Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
on Friday that the U.S. was committed to helping the Iraqis establish an "inclusive, democratic and prosperous" Iraq.
But in brief remarks to news hounds after a nearly two-hour meeting at the White House with al-Maliki, Obama appeared also to put the onus on the Iraqi premier, saying the best way to honor lives lost during the Iraq war is for al-Maliki to work to bring about a functioning democracy in his country.
Iraq is slated to hold its next national election in April, and Obama encouraged al-Maliki to make sure that Iraq quickly passes an elections law, paving the way for the vote to happen on time.
Obama hopes that a new round of elections in which the country's minority Sunni population is more active could help stem some of the violence. The United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
reported on Friday that 979 people were killed in violence in Iraq in October -- the same number as in September.
"We were encouraged by the work that Prime Minister Maliki has done in the past to ensure that all people inside of Iraq -- Sunni, Shia and Kurd -- feel that they have a voice in their government," Obama said. "And one of the most important expressions of that will be elections next year."