VARIOUS: U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrive in Jordan for crisis talks

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Jordan on Wednesday (November 29) for crisis talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose own position has been eroded by blunt White House criticism and the loss of a key Shi'ite ally. Bush, who arrived in Amman after attending a NATO summit in Latvia, is 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. While in Latvia, Bush blamed al Qaeda for the violence and vowed not to pull troops out "before the mission is complete". He denied Iraq had already plunged into civil war. U.S. misgivings about Maliki's leadership surfaced in a sometimes scathing memo written by national security adviser Stephen Hadley and published by the New York Times. Hadley told Bush in the November 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. The White House said on Wednesday it had confidence in Maliki and wanted to strengthen his position. 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 and Maliki are due to meet at a dinner hosted by King Abdullah and for a working breakfast on Thursday (November 30). 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. Bush's visit to Amman was unpopular with some Jordanians. Hundreds took the streets before Bush's arrival and burnt American flags and posters showing the face of the US president. Protesters carried their parties flags and pictures and drawings of George Bush showing him as a Nazi. "He killed many people in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon we refuse this visit, and we refuse his policy in the Middle East, George Bush out of our land," Samar AlJazara of Jordan's democratic party told Reuters. Meanwhile in Iran, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a news conference after their bilateral talks in Tehran on Wednesday. While Bush has ruled out bringing Iran into the mix to find a solution to his Iraq problem, Ahmadinejad was more than happy to offer advice. "I told them (the Westerners) that if they really want to leave Iraq and try to hand over power to Iraqi authorities and government, so their behaviour (the Westerners) should be compatible with what they say about Iraq," Ahmadinejad lambasted Bush's Middle East strategy. In a five-page letter to the American people, he called on Washington to pull out of Iraq and recognise a Palestinian state. He also cautioned Democratic Party legislators who gained control of the U.S. Congress from Bush's Republican Party earlier this month that they would be "held to account by the people and by history." The letter was made public as the Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker, prepared to give Bush a report expected to encourage Washington to speak directly with Iran and Syria in hopes of enlisting them in efforts to reverse the spiral of violence tearing Iraq apart.

ITN Source | November 30, 2006

Tags:. .flags. .protesters. .palestinian. .rejected. .lebanon