US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sent a team of top advisers to Iraq last week on a secret mission to assess the post-election situation in the Arab country, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The purpose of the mission was to "review the U.S. role at this strategic political juncture" in Iraq's transition, the report said.

Iraq held a nationwide parliamentary election at the end of January after the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime.

The leader of the team was Richard H. Jones, who was former US ambassador to Kuwait, Lebanon and Kazakhstan, and was the deputy to the former U.S. governor of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer during the 14-month long US occupation that ended last June. He is scheduled to become the new special coordinator working out of Rice's office and reporting directly to her, the paper quoted US officials as saying.

The appointment reflected how Rice intends to take closer responsibility in directing policy during the next critical year, as a new Iraqi government takes office, a new constitution is written and another election for a permanent government is held in December, the US officials said. The team was assigned to take a "fresh look" at a handful of topics, including Iraqi governance, economic development and reconstruction, the paper said. Enditem