Biden Visits Baghdad

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrived in Baghdad Saturday on an unannounced holiday weekend trip to visit troops and prod Iraqi leaders to get past a political impasse that has prevented the country from forming a government since national elections were held in March. According to a White House statement, the vice president hopes to "reaffirm" the U.S. "long-term commitment" to Iraq, as well as take stock of conditions there ahead of President Obama’s scheduled end of combat operations August 31. After meeting with the U.S. Ambassador and General Ray Odierno on Saturday, Biden spoke hopefully about an Iraqi government forming. "In one sense, it looks the most difficult putting the government together,” the vice president said. “In another sense, this is local politics. This is not a lot different than any other government. I remain, as I have from the beginning, extremely optimistic about the government being formed here, that it will be representative, represent all the major parties. What that will be, I can't tell you, but I'm just optimistic about it." Biden will meet with the two candidates for prime minister on Sunday, and on Monday he will meet with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani.