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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (755251)	11/29/2006 12:52:09 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

This is completely untenable... _________________________________ Maliki loses Shi'ite ally before Bush talks By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bush arrived in Jordan on Wednesday for crisis talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose own position has been eroded by blunt White House criticism and the loss of a key Shi'ite ally. Iranian-backed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who leads the Mehdi Army militia, carried out his threat to boycott parliament and Maliki's coalition if the premier met the U.S. president. Sadr's faction, which helped elect Maliki to his post, denounced his visit to see Bush as "a provocation to the Iraqi people." It was not clear how long the boycott would last. Maliki's trip was already clouded by a leaked White House memo questioning his ability to rescue Iraq from bloody turmoil that claims scores of lives daily, including over 200 killed in a bomb and mortar attack on Sadr's Baghdad stronghold last week. Bush, who arrived in Amman after attending a NATO summit in Latvia, is himself under growing pressure to change course to prevent Iraq dissolving in a maelstrom of sectarian strife and to secure an honorable exit for 140,000 U.S. troops. While in Latvia, Bush blamed al Qaeda for the violence and vowed not to pull troops out "before the mission is complete." He denied Iraq had already plunged into civil war. U.S. misgivings about Maliki's leadership surfaced in a sometimes scathing memo written by national security adviser Stephen Hadley and published by the New York Times. Hadley told Bush in the November 8 document that Maliki needed political help and a possible shake-up of his seven-month-old national unity government of hostile factions. It describes the Iraqi leader as a man who "wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so," and questions whether he shares Washington's vision for Iraq. "If so, is he able to curb those who seek Shi'ite hegemony or the reassertion of Sunni power?" the memo asks. The White House said on Wednesday it had confidence in Maliki and wanted to strengthen his position. NO BOLD MOVE Bush and Maliki were due to meet for a dinner hosted by King Abdullah and for a working breakfast on Thursday. The meetings were expected to be a give-and-take on how to improve the situation, and "not the president dictating terms," a U.S. official said. A bold announcement was not expected. Maliki and Bush said they would discuss transferring more control to Iraqi security forces and the role other countries in the region could play to stem bloodshed and chaos in Iraq. Bush has rejected direct U.S. talks with Iran over helping to stabilize Iraq, saying Tehran must first stop nuclear fuel enrichment. But he said it was up to Baghdad to decide on its relations with neighboring Iran and Syria, both U.S. foes. Maliki held preliminary talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, who, like other Sunni Arab leaders, fears rising Iranian influence in Iraq and the region, especially after the Lebanon war between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas. The king told the BBC earlier that Iraqi leaders must prevent Iraq being destroyed "in a whirlpool of violence." In another sign of regional worry, a security adviser to the Saudi government predicted that Riyadh would use money, weapons or its oil power to prevent Shi'ite militias from "massacring Sunnis" once the United States began pulling out of Iraq. "To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks -- it could spark a regional war. So be it: the consequences of inaction are far worse," Nawaf Obaid wrote in the Washington Post. He said the opinions were his own, not the government's. Bush's visit to Amman was unpopular with some Jordanians. "This is a very sad day. Bush has become a symbol of bigotry and injustice toward Arabs and Muslims," said Mustafa Nimer, a 32-year-old engineer. "There he is slaughtering my brothers in Palestine and Iraq and is now hosted and feted by our leaders." Bush, under pressure to change course in Iraq after his Republican party lost control of Congress in November elections, is to receive recommendations next month from a bipartisan panel headed by former secretary of state James Baker.