| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Bush, al-Maliki Talks in Jordan Postponed |
| 2006-11-29 |
| AMMAN, Jordan — President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be putting off their meeting by one day, the White House announced Wednesday. "Since the King of Jordan and the prime minister had a bilateral themselves earlier today, everyone believed that it negated the purpose of the three of them to meet tonight together in a trilateral setting," White House adviser Dan Bartlett told reporters traveling with Bush. Bartlett said the king and the prime minister had met before Bush arrived from a NATO summit in Latvia. Bush's meeting with King Abdullah was proceeding as scheduled, and the two will have dinner together. Al-Maliki will be absent from that event also. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley will attend the pre-dinner meeting. Bartlett said the delay gives Bush and Abdullah an opportunity to discuss other issues in the region. He said expects al-Maliki and Bush will have robust talks Thursday and we can "expect a lot of give and take." The delay comes after the high-stakes summit was marred by public disclosure of U.S. doubts about al-Maliki's capacity to control sectarian violence and a walkout of Iraq's coalition government by 30 parliamentarians loyal to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Five Cabinet ministers also suspended their participation in the government saying their action was necessary because the meeting in Jordan constituted a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights." Their statement did not explain that claim. Bartlett denied that the delay had anything to do with a New York Times report Wednesday that said Hadley wrote in a classified Nov. 8 memo that al-Maliki's "capabilities are not yet sufficient" to control sectarian violence that has spread unabated throughout Iraq. Hadley also recommended steps to strengthen al-Maliki's position. The memo was written after an Oct. 30 trip to Baghdad. "The reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action," the Times quoted the memo as saying. The meetings scheduled Wednesday and Thursday aimed at halting Iraq's escalating sectarian violence and paving the way for a reduction of American troops. "We are sticking to our position. ... The boycott is still valid," Falih Hassan, a Sadrist legislator, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Bush is a criminal who killed a lot of Iraqis and we do not want him to interfere in Iraq's affairs. The Iraqi government should negotiate with the U.N. Security Council, not with the leader of the country that is occupying Iraq." In New York on Tuesday, U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend for one year the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq. The Security Council responded to a request from al-Maliki, who said a top government priority is to assume full responsibility for security and stability throughout Iraq but that it needs more time. The White House did not dispute the accuracy of the quoted material from the leaked memo, but a senior administration official reacting on condition of anonymity said that, taken as a whole, it is an expression of support for al-Maliki. "You have a constant reiteration of the importance of strengthening the Maliki government, the need to work with him, to augment his capabilities," the official said. He added that Bush and al-Maliki have a "personal relationship" that allows them to "talk candidly about the challenges." Another official, also speaking anonymously because of the classified nature of the memo, told the Times that it was not "a slap in the face, but it's how do we grow his capability." "The president has confidence in Prime Minister Maliki, and also the administration is working with the prime minister to improve his capabilities," Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters, adding that al-Maliki "has been very aggressive in recent weeks in taking on some of the key challenges." The White House is avoiding directly pressuring al-Maliki to do more to stop the bloodshed, or impose directives. Instead, Bush is expected to ask the prime minister for ideas on how to train Iraqi forces faster so they can shoulder more responsibility for securing the nation against sectarian extremists, and hear how he plans to mend his nation's bitter Sunni-Shia divide. The meeting was to take place at the Raghadan Palace, high on a hill in the Jordanian capital. "We will discuss the situation on the ground in his country, our ongoing efforts to transfer more responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, and the responsibility of other nations in the region to support the security and stability of Iraq," Bush said Tuesday while attending the NATO summit in Riga. "We'll continue to be flexible, and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed. But there's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete." Abdullah has warned that unless bold steps are taken posthaste, the new year could dawn with three civil wars in the Mideast — in Lebanon, between the Palestinians and Israelis and in Iraq. He says the fighting in Iraq amounts to a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites, but Bush chooses to characterize it differently. "No question it's tough," Bush said Tuesday. "There's a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented, in my opinion, because of these attacks by Al Qaeda, causing people to seek reprisal." His planned meeting with al-Maliki is part of a new flurry of diplomacy the Bush administration has undertaken across the Middle East. Hadley's memo suggests that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hold a meeting for Iraq and its neighbors in the region early next month. After the Bush-al-Maliki summit, Rice is staying behind in the region for talks with Palestinian, and possibly, Israeli leaders, who agreed last weekend on a cease-fire to end five months of fighting in the Gaza Strip. Hadley suggested in his memo that the United States could step up is efforts to get Saudi Arabia to take a leadership role in supporting Iraq, the Times reported. Hadley said Saudi Arabia could use its influence to move Sunni populations in Iraq out of violence and into politics, cut off any public or private funding provided to the insurgents or death squads from the region and lean on Syria to terminate its support for Baathists and insurgent leaders. Iraqi officials say the United States wants other Sunni governments in the area, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, to persuade moderate Sunnis in Iraq to line up with al-Maliki. That would give him political clout he needs to challenge radical militias trying to undermine his authority. Those three governments also are urging the United States to resume its role as mediator in the long-festering conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, an issue that prejudices relations throughout the region. Back in Washington, the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel created to recommend a new way forward in Iraq, were meeting for a third day. The independent panel, set to issue a report next month, did not reach a consensus Tuesday on how many or how long U.S. troops should remain in Iraq, forcing the group to return for a third day of debate. |
| Posted by:Sherry |