Bush keeps plans to meet with Iraqi PM
(AP)Updated: 2006-11-25 13:47
WASHINGTON - President Bush is sticking to his plan to hold a summit in Jordan next week with the head of Iraq, despite threats from radical Shiites to boycott parliament if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki goes.
 In this photo made available by the Iraqi President Press Office, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, third left, heads a meeting of the Iraqi Political Council for National Security in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. [Reuters]  |
At the same time, the White House on Friday deplored anew the escalating wave of violence in Iraq.
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"These ruthless acts of violence are deplorable," said Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel. "It is an outrage that these terrorists are targeting innocents in a brazen effort to topple a democratically elected government, and it is not going to work."
In Baghdad, followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned they would suspend their membership in the Iraqi parliament and cabinet if al-Maliki kept his appointment with Bush in Amman on Wednesday and Thursday. That put al-Maliki in a difficult position because he needs the support of both Bush and al-Sadr.
The al-Sadr bloc in parliament and government is the backbone of al-Maliki's political support, and its withdrawal, if only temporarily, would be a severe blow to the prime minister's already shaky hold on power.
"Securing Baghdad and gaining control of the violent situation will be a priority agenda item when President Bush meets with Prime Minister al-Maliki in just a few days," Stanzel said.
A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the two leaders' meeting, said the
president does not expect that al-Sadr's threat to withdraw from the Iraqi
government will prompt al-Maliki to cancel his meeting with Bush.
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