Biden's Iraq visit postponed to next month
05/11/2011 14:39Baghdad, Nov. 5 (AKnews) - The story of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq is getting even weirder: After the Kurdistan Regional Government announced earlier that Biden will not visit the Kurdistan Region, an anonymous Iraqi official now claimed that Biden will not come to Iraq at all.
The expected visit, which had been announced as a "surprise visit" by Iraqi news media last week, was allegedly postponed to next month.
"There are no surprise visits. There are only visits that are kept secret due to security reasons," the source said and requested anonymity because it was not authorized to talk to the media.
Earlier today, Kawa Mahmoud, a spokesman for Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said that Biden would not visit the Kurdistan Region, because Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Saleh are both abroad, hence there would be nobody Joe Biden could talk to.
Massoud is currently in Turkey, while Saleh is visiting the United States, Kawa Mahmoud, a spokesman for Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said.
Also, most Kurdish lawmakers are out of the country on diplomatic missions, according to a secret source in the Kurdish Foreign Relations Department.
The source claimed that it had not been informed about Biden's visit to Iraq. Otherwise, the Kurdish politicians would have canceled their travels.
Now, it seems reasonable that nobody informed the Foreign Relations Department of the visit, because there is none.
reported by Mohammed al-Tayyib
RY/CU/AKnews
