Rice: U.S. needs to keep Iraq safe from Iran

Above: Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and Iranian President Ahmadinejad at their Tehran meeting in August.

The United States wants to ensure Iraq's territorial integrity, including from "very troublesome neighbors" like Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday...

"Iraq has very troublesome neighbors. Iran is a very troublesome neighbor," she said, noting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that if the United States leaves Iraq, Iran is prepared to fill the vacuum.

Rice said the United States needed Iraq and other allies in the region "to resist both terrorism and Iranian aggression."

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