http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564693989585192470BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - President Jalal Talabani on Saturday underscored the need for a unity government in Iraq after a spasm of sectarian killing and said he had been assured U.S. forces would remain in the country as long as needed - ''no matter what the period.''
Talabani spoke to reporters after a meeting with Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, who met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Saturday.
Abizaid said he was ''very, very pleased with the reaction of the Iraqi armed forces'' during the violence that broke out after the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.
''We should understand that the terrorists are trying to create problems among the Iraqi people that can lead to difficulties between various groups,'' he said after a separate meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. ''We should not fall into their trap. We are stronger than they are. We will ultimately prevail.''