WORLD / America

Bush to go overseas again for key talks

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-27 09:28

WASHINGTON - President Bush reaches out to allies this week for help in
quelling violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a burst of diplomacy from a
Baltic summit of NATO partners to Mideast talks with Iraq's prime
minister.

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush wave as they arrive on the South
Lawn of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006. [AP]

Just back from an eight-day trip to Asia, Bush was leaving on Monday on
another overseas trip as pressure builds at home for a change in his
administration's Iraq strategy amid deepening tensions and violence in
that country.

The president stops first in Estonia en route to a NATO summit in
neighboring Latvia where a debate over peacekeeping operations in
Afghanistan is expected to dominate.

Estonia and Latvia have sent troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan and the
US considers the two former Soviet republics important allies.

From Latvia, the president heads to Amman, Jordan, for two days of talks
with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Jordan was deemed a less
dangerous setting for the meeting than Baghdad.

White House aides said the meeting, a late addition to Bush's itinerary,
was part of the president's process of sounding out various parties as he
ponders how to proceed in Iraq.

Iran and Syria are trying to assert influence in stabilizing Iraq without
American involvement, and tensions in the region increased further last
week with the assassination of a Cabinet member in the US-backed
democratic government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora - a killing
some have blamed on Syria. Also, sectarian attacks in Iraq have surged in
recent days.

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Jordan's King Abdullah said Sunday that tensions in the Middle East go
beyond the war in Iraq and that much of the region soon could become
engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly.

"We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on
our hands," he said on ABC's "This Week," citing conflicts in Iraq,
Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis.

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