In Iraq To Facilitate Reconciliation Of Tribal Factions, Biden Reunites With Son Beau

July 3, 2009 1:48 p.m. EST

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - Vice President Joe Biden on Friday continued his first visit to Baghdad since assuming office, meeting with Iraqi leaders and reuniting with his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who is one of the thousands of troops left in Iraq after U.S. forces withdrew from the war-torn nation's cities this week.

The White House early this week announced that Biden had been appointed to work with Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Amb. Christopher Hill in helping Iraqis, with their tribal alliances and autonomous regions, "overcome their political differences and achieving the type of reconciliation that we all understand has yet to fully take place but needs to take place."

The United States completed its withdrawal from Iraq's cities, towns and villages on Tuesday as part of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by the U.S. and Iraqi governments December last year. The agreement also requires that all U.S. troops be redeployed from the entire country by Dec. 31, 2011.

The Pentagon plans to pull out all combat troops by August next year. A residual force of 35,000 to 50,000 troops, however, will remain to help in the transition until 2011.

Biden arrived in Baghdad Thursday night and met with Odierno and Hill Friday morning. The meeting was hampered by sandstorms that forced the officials to hold talks in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces that serves as Odierno's home.

The Vice President also had breakfast with his son. The 40-year-old Beau Biden is captain of the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard who temporarily left his post as state attorney general in October.

The withdrawal of American forces in Iraq was marked by a bomb blast in Kirkuk that killed 33 people and injured 97 others, and concerns about how Iraqis will maintain their newly bolstered sovereignty and keep control of one of the world's richest oil reserves as oil giants bid for contracts for the first time since Saddam nationalized the industry in the 1970s.

BP, Chevron, China National Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Exxon Mobil, Shell and other industry giants on Tuesday began a two-day meeting over contracts, some of which Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani has had to defend before a Parliament concerned about Iraqi interests.

Ninety percent of Iraq's reserves, which are estimated to contain 115 billion barrels, remain unexplored. Control over these reserves has been in dispute since Saddam's ouster, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had entered into deals with companies while a national oil legislation was being passed by Parliament and despite warnings from U.S. officials.

Biden told reporters on Thursday en route to Baghdad, "The reason I came is the President wants focus on the implementation of our administration's plan to both draw down troops in Iraq... and reestablish contact with each of the leaders among the Kurds, Sunnis and the Shia and talk through them what they think has to be accommodated with regard to the boundary disputes of the north, the oil law."

Asked if his visit showed the White House was not satisfied with the political progress in Iraq, the Vice President said, "The Iraqis are not satisfied... There's a lot left on the agenda and I think all Iraqis acknowledge that."