Rumsfeld on suprise visit to Baghdad

US Defence Secretary Donald H.Rumsfeld arrived on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday.

Rumsfeld suggested that the US had a renewed urgency to organise Iraq's political and security fronts so that US forces could eventually leave.

He issued a stern message to Iraq's leaders urging them to do more to stop Syria and Iran interfering in Iraqi affairs.

"They need to be aggressively communicating with their neighbours to see that foreign terrorists stop coming across those borders and that their neighbors do not harbour insurgents and finance insurgents," he said in an in-flight interview with reporters accompanying him from Tajikistan.

Immediately on arrival at Baghdad airport, Rumsfeld began a series of briefings with US and Iraqi officials.