In comments to journalists on Thursday, Rice said "we believe that oil has to be a resource for the Iraqi people as a whole. It has to benefit the Iraqi people as a whole.

"Our view, which has been communicated to the Iraqis and which I think most Iraqis agree with, is that oil needs to be a unifying factor and not one that would help to make the country less unified."

Rice, who arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit Thursday, urged Iraqi leaders to live up to their promise to halt the brutal wave of violence engulfing their country.