WORLD / Middle East

Bush: Iraq progress too slow

(AP)
Updated: 2006-12-05 08:47

WASHINGTON - President Bush told a Shi'ite 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.

President Bush, right, talks to reporters during his meeting with Sayyed
Aziz Al-Hakim, an Iraqi Shiite leader, in the Oval Office of the White
House in Washington, Dec. 4, 2006. [AP]

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim said US 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.

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"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 Shi'ite 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 Shi'ites, 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. Last week, he met in Jordan with
al-Maliki.

Before al-Hakim's visit to the United States, two al-Maliki aides and a
third person close to al-Hakim said the cleric was expected to try to
persuade Bush to enlist Iran's help in quelling violence in Iraq.

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