Outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a secret farewell trip to Iraq, a senior Pentagon official confirmed yesterday.
Mr Rumsfeld's trip, first reported by ABC News, was his 13th unannounced visit to the country.
It came one day after he gave a farewell address at the Pentagon and nine days before he is replaced by Robert Gates.
No other details of his trip or whether he was still in Iraq were immediately available.
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Mr Rumsfeld, who became a lightning rod for world criticism over the Iraq war, announced his resignation in November, the day after Republicans lost control of both Houses of the US Congress amid voter unhappiness with the war.