Bush, Maliki in Amman for talks, dinner shelved
Source: Reuters
(Adds Bush-Abdullah dinner, details) By Caren Bohan and Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki postponed for a day their crisis talks on Iraq, but officials played down any link between the schedule change and a memo suggesting tensions between the two leaders. A U.S. official denied the cancellation of a dinner on Wednesday in the Jordanian capital Amman was a snub by Maliki in response to a New York Times story that carried a leaked White House report criticising the Iraqi leader. "It was going to be more of a social meeting anyway," White House counsellor Dan Bartlett told reporters after Bush arrived in Amman, referring to the three-way dinner that would have included Jordan's King Abdullah. "The president and prime minister Maliki will have a very robust and lengthy dialogue tomorrow morning." Bush did have dinner with King Abdullah, who this week said "something dramatic" must come from the talks on Iraq. Jordanian officials said the cancellation was at their request so Bush and Abdullah could focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Maliki's trip to Amman had been clouded by the leaked White House memo questioning his ability to rescue Iraq from turmoil that claims scores of lives daily, including over 200 killed in a bomb and mortar attack on Sadr's Baghdad stronghold last week. The Iraqi leader's standing had also been eroded by 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. 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 honourable exit for 140,000 U.S. troops. The crisis summit with Maliki had been hastily arranged and Bush also changed his schedule to see the Iraqi leader. While in Latvia, Bush vowed not to pull troops out "before the mission is complete". On Wednesday, General Peter Pace, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Bush in playing down growing signs that Iraq is already engulfed in civil war and instead accused al Qaeda of fomenting sectarian bloodshed. That view is not shared by former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said on Wednesday Iraq had descended into civil war and urged world leaders to accept that "reality". SCATHING U.S. misgivings about Maliki's leadership became known when the sometimes scathing memo by national security adviser Stephen Hadley was published by The New York Times. Hadley told Bush in the Nov. 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. Thursday's meetings are 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 is 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 stabilise Iraq, saying Tehran must first stop nuclear fuel enrichment. But he said it was up to Baghdad to decide on its relations with neighbouring 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. 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. The Iraq Study Group would release its report on Dec. 6, a source close to the group said. (Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Amman and Alastair Macdonald and Aseel Kami in Baghdad)
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