BAGHDAD, Dec 18: US Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the main architects of the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, paid a surprise visit on Sunday to Iraq, three days after the parliamentary election there, his office said. Mr Cheney’s visit, his first to Iraq since the fall of Saddam’s regime, included a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.

Mr Cheney also toured an Iraqi army base in Taji where he watched a demonstration by the nation’s new mechanized infantry division.—AFP