U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Thursday to visit U.S. soldiers, just two days after all American combat troops withdrew from Baghdad and all of Iraq's cities and towns.
A White House statement said Biden will reiterate the U.S. commitment to carry out President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw combat forces. He also will press Iraqi leaders to make more progress toward political reconciliation. It was his first trip to Iraq as vice president.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said about Iraq that he has always reserved the right to adjust the U.S. troop withdrawal timetable in Iraq based on changing circumstances. But he said he was confident the U.S. will be able to abide by agreements it made with Iraqis.
In a White House interview with The Associated Press, Obama also said he believes Iraqis do not want to return to spiraling violence of past years but added that he has not seen sufficient reconciliation among Iraq's political factions.
In Baghdad, the violence began when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol, killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding seven other people, police and hospital officials said.
The attack occurred near a bridge that controls access to the walled-off Green Zone in central Baghdad.
A car bomb later exploded near a market on the highway south of Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding 15, according to a police officer at the regional command.
But Thursday's bombings were the first deadly attacks recorded in Baghdad after the Iraqis officially assumed responsibility for securing the cities and most of the 130,000 American troops in Iraq pulled back from urban areas to large bases on the outskirts.
''The first phase of implementing the American forces withdrawal agreement has ended peacefully and successfully without any problems,'' he said at a news conference.
He said 168 bases and military sites have been handed over by the U.S. to the Iraqis, including 20 bases in the northern provinces of Ninevah, Salahuddin and Diyala, 86 bases in Baghdad, 46 in Anbar, 16 elsewhere.
A White House statement said Biden will reiterate the U.S. commitment to carry out President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw combat forces. He also will press Iraqi leaders to make more progress toward political reconciliation. It was his first trip to Iraq as vice president.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said about Iraq that he has always reserved the right to adjust the U.S. troop withdrawal timetable in Iraq based on changing circumstances. But he said he was confident the U.S. will be able to abide by agreements it made with Iraqis.
In a White House interview with The Associated Press, Obama also said he believes Iraqis do not want to return to spiraling violence of past years but added that he has not seen sufficient reconciliation among Iraq's political factions.
In Baghdad, the violence began when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol, killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding seven other people, police and hospital officials said.
The attack occurred near a bridge that controls access to the walled-off Green Zone in central Baghdad.
A car bomb later exploded near a market on the highway south of Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding 15, according to a police officer at the regional command.
But Thursday's bombings were the first deadly attacks recorded in Baghdad after the Iraqis officially assumed responsibility for securing the cities and most of the 130,000 American troops in Iraq pulled back from urban areas to large bases on the outskirts.
''The first phase of implementing the American forces withdrawal agreement has ended peacefully and successfully without any problems,'' he said at a news conference.
He said 168 bases and military sites have been handed over by the U.S. to the Iraqis, including 20 bases in the northern provinces of Ninevah, Salahuddin and Diyala, 86 bases in Baghdad, 46 in Anbar, 16 elsewhere.
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