Bush, Shiite leader meet
WASHINGTON – President Bush told a Shiite political leader on Monday the United States is not happy with progress in Iraq and sought the cleric’s help to curb extremists and terrorists trying to undermine the struggling new democracy.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim said U.S. troops need to stay in Iraq to help deal with escalating violence. He also told Bush that Iraq welcomes help from other nations, including those in the Middle East, so long as they do not bypass Iraq’s political process.
“Iraq should be in a position to solve Iraqi problems,” al-Hakim told Bush after they met in the Oval Office for more than an hour.
Some consider al-Hakim, who lived in exile in Iran for years, a more powerful political figure than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Hakim leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest Shiite bloc in Iraq’s parliament. His party also is backed by the Badr Brigade militia blamed for sectarian killings.
The meeting was evidence that Bush, under pressure to find a new blueprint for his war strategy, was getting more personally involved in the political infighting among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
“I told him that we’re not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq, and that we want to continue to work with the sovereign government of Iraq,” Bush said. He said the young Iraqi government needs to be given more capability as quickly as possible to secure the country from extremists and murderers.
Bush is meeting on Thursday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair – a day after the bipartisan Iraq Study Group issues its long-awaited recommendations. Bush also plans to meet next month with Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.
Bush spoke with al-Hakim directly about Iran and Syria and the critical need for them to respect Iraqi sovereignty and stop destructive activity that undermines Iraq’s unity government, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said it wasn’t known whether al-Hakim specifically asked Bush to enlist Iran’s assistance. Al-Hakim told reporters that he vehemently opposes any regional or international effort to solve Iraq’s problems that goes around the unity government in Baghdad.
“We reject any attempts to have a regional or international role in solving the Iraqi issue,” the cleric, who speaks Arabic, said through a translator. “We cannot bypass the political process. Iraq should be in a position to solve Iraqi problems.”
Later, in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, al-Hakim said Iraq is interested in creating good relations with all neighboring nations, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Syria and Jordan.
Al-Hakim said he talked with Bush about equipment, including armaments, that the Iraqi security forces need. He pledged that the government would deal with all forms of terrorism, no matter where they originate.