REFILE-Bush tells Hashemi Iraqis must stop killing each other
Source: Reuters
(Substitutes "Hashemi" for "aide" in headline to clarify) DUBAI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush is very annoyed with the situation in Iraq and wants Iraqis to halt sectarian killings, a senior Iraqi official said in remarks aired on Friday. "President Bush is very worried and annoyed, and he made it clear to me saying: We cannot remain silent towards the situation, we cannot accept that Iraqis kill each other," Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi told Al Jazeera television. "Decisive measures are needed to stop the killings. Iraqis are facing a limited chance," he quoted Bush as saying. Hashemi was speaking in an interview with the channel during his visit to Washington where he met the U.S. president. Hashemi criticised the United States on Thursday for disbanding the Iraqi army in 2003 and said it should not withdraw without reforming Iraqi security forces heavily infiltrated by sectarian militias. "Militias are conducting sectarian cleansing in Iraq... we do not know who stands behind these killings (Sunnis or Shi'ites)," he told al Jazeera. Earlier this week Hashemi said he and Bush discussed the idea of forming a political coalition better able to end sectarian violence than Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government. The violence in Iraq stems from many sources, including attacks by insurgents from the minority Sunni community, by militias from the majority Shi'ites and by criminals. Dozens of people are killed every day. Hashemi said he and Bush discussed the idea of a "Plan B" -- a new political coalition including the powerful Shi'ite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, the Islamic party, which is the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament, and two Kurdish parties -- to try to reduce the violence.
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