Biden: New relationship for U.S. and Iraq

Vice President Joe Biden said in Baghdad Tuesday the drawdown of U.S. forces will mark a new phase in the relationship between the United States and Iraq. Biden told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the new partnership will include a robust security relationship based on whatever Iraq decides, the White House reported. The vice president made the remarks at Iraq's governmental palace prior to a meeting of the U.S.-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee. "This is marking a new beginning of a relationship that will not only benefit the United States and Iraq, I believe will benefit the region and, in turn, the world," Biden said. He said Iraq has suffered over the past decade, first from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and then from being "victimized by terror." "Few nations have gone through what you've gone through," Biden said. "But now Iraq is poised to join the community of nations who are the great contributors of the world." Maliki told Biden Iraq is now capable of protecting its own internal security but added that U.S. forces will play a training role in the future. He said he hope U.S. companies would come to Iraq with the same force that U.S. troops did.