US Secretary of State Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that while it is up to the Iraqi people to chose their own leaders, the international community has the right to expect that it will happen soon.
Neither Rice nor Straw pointed to any progress from a day and a half spent with meeting most of Iraq's political factions. But they said their message that Iraq must quickly form a government of national unity got through.
"We are entitled to say that whilst it is up to you, the Iraqis, to say who will fill these positions, someone must fill these positions and fill them quickly," Straw told reporters at a news conference. "There is no doubt the political vacuum that is here at the moment is not assisting the security situation," Straw added.
Rice said the troubles in Iraq called for a strong leader who could help unify the Iraqi people. But, she added, "It's not our job to say who that person ought to be."
Rice said the quick formation of a new government "is something that the international community has a right to expect."
"You cannot have a circumstance in which there is a political vacuum in a country like this that faces so much threat of violence," Rice said.
The two top diplomats spoke of the need for the next government to curb the power of sectarian militias. "You have to have the state with a monopoly of power," Rice said. "We have sent very strong messages" that there must be "a reining in of militias."
