By Arshad Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi journalists gave Secretary of State Colin Powell a hostile reception in Baghdad on Friday, walking out of his news conference in protest at the killing of two of their colleagues by U.S. troops.
Powell urged U.S. allies to stay the course in Iraq after Spain vowed to pull out troops and South Korea refused to take on a combat role. "This is not the time to say 'let's stop what we are doing and pull back'," he told the news conference. "This is the time to...deal with this threat to the civilized world and not run and hide and think that it won't come and get us -- it will."
About 30 Arab journalists quit the hall in anger at Thursday's shooting of two Iraqis who worked for the Dubai-based satellite television channel Al Arabiya. "We declare our condemnation of the incident which led to the killing of the two journalists...at the hands of the American forces," said Najim al-Rubaie of Iraq's Addustour daily as Powell and Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer looked on. Al Arabiya employees say U.S. soldiers fired on a car carrying an Arabiya crew on Thursday evening after another car ran through a checkpoint. Cameraman Ali Abdelaziz was killed and correspondent Ali al-Khatib died in hospital on Friday morning.
After the walkout, Powell said he regretted the deaths of the journalists, but was sure troops would not have killed them on purpose.
"HORRIBLE DICTATORSHIP"
Powell, tightly guarded throughout his surprise visit, earlier hailed the war in Iraq after a year of bloodshed, saying it had rid the country of a "horrible dictatorial regime."
He told U.S. soldiers and civilians that Iraq and its neighbors need no longer fear Saddam's chemical weapons -- even though U.S. experts have not found any in a year-long hunt.
"We don't have to worry about that any more on this March day, this one year commemoration of the beginning of the war."
Across town, about 7,000 Sunnis and Shi'ites marched against the occupation after Friday prayers in two main mosques. "No to America, no to Saddam," they chanted in a show of unity. Powell spent his entire seven-hour visit within the confines of the Green Zone, the heavily defended compound where the U.S.-led administration has its Baghdad headquarters.
He flew in from Kuwait on a U.S. military C-130 aircraft. From the airport, Powell and his party were ferried to the Green Zone in low-flying helicopters, with machinegunners posted at the doors scanning the ground for potential threats.
The U.S. military has lost 392 troops in action since the United States and Britain launched the war to rid Iraq of the elusive banned weapons they said Saddam possessed. Powell said "difficult days" lay ahead for Iraq, where at least 10 people were killed in violence on Thursday.
A U.S. military convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade fire in the northern city of Mosul on Friday and witnesses said one American soldier had been hit. "We have to shift as the enemy shifts. They have moved from harder targets to softer targets. We'll have to adapt our tactics likewise," Powell said, adding that Iraqi forces would take on an increasing role in fighting the insurgency.
The postwar violence, coupled with last week's devastating bombings in Madrid, has jangled the nerves of several U.S. allies providing military support in Iraq.
WAVERING ALLIES
Powell, seeking to stiffen their spines, said the engagement in Iraq was part of the struggle against global terrorism.
South Korea said on Friday it had refused a U.S. request for help in offensive operations and would not deploy troops in the northern city of Kirkuk because of deteriorating security there.
The unexpected decision seemed sure to delay the planned April deployment of more than 3,000 South Korean troops to augment 600 already in Iraq helping with reconstruction.
Spain's new leader pledged last week to pull troops out of Iraq after an election upset that followed the train bombings which killed 202 people in Madrid. A videotape purportedly from al Qaeda said the attack was to punish Spain for its Iraq role.
A senior coalition military official said any withdrawal of Spanish troops would be militarily "manageable" and voiced confidence that contingents from other nations would stay.
Powell acknowledged there was no agreement yet on the shape of a sovereign government due to assume power on July 1, saying he hoped a U.N. envoy would arrive shortly to join talks about various options with the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday he would send a U.N. political team to Iraq soon to advise on a transitional government and elections early next year.
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