One of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders said after meeting President Bush on Monday that civil war could only be staved off if U.S. forces struck harder against Sunni-led insurgents. While Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the biggest party in Iraq's government, SCIRI, met Bush in Washington, the U.S. envoy and military chief in Baghdad implored Iraqis to break a cycle of violence which they said would destroy the country.Hakim denied that majority Shi'ites were stoking sectarian violence and put the onus on Washington to take tougher action against insurgents. "The strikes they are getting from the multinational forces are not hard enough to put an end to their acts," he said. "Eliminating the danger of civil war in Iraq could only be achieved through directing decisive strikes against Baathist terrorists (and other Islamists) in Iraq. Otherwise we'll continue to witness massacres."
Bush, his Iraq policy under growing criticism even from former allies, said he and Hakim had discussed a need for Iraqi leaders to "reject the extremists that are trying to stop the advance of this young democracy".
"I told him we're not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq and that we want to continue to work with the sovereign government in Iraq to accomplish our mutual objectives, which is a free country that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself," Bush told reporters at the White House.