.Iraq PM, meeting Bush, harried on all sides
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iranian agent or American stooge, a spineless appeaser of rebel Sunnis or feeble pawn of Shi'ite barons -- who would want to be Iraq's prime minister?
Nuri al-Maliki still does, it seems, and he meets George W. Bush on Wednesday and Thursday, seeking U.S. help. The president hopes Maliki can return the favor after seven months in which Maliki's government has failed to halt a slide into civil war.
The talks in Jordan, safe from the violence of Baghdad, may give pointers to Maliki's chances of survival at the head of a coalition of hostile factions and to how Bush hopes to extricate 140,000 American troops from Iraq without leaving it in anarchy
U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear they see Maliki, a compromise choice with a modest personal power base, as their best bet -- despite mounting frustration with his failure to make good yet on promises to disband armed groups, especially militias loyal to more powerful fellow Shi'ite Islamists.
A memo from National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, leaked to the New York Times, echoed private comments by Americans in Iraq: "He impressed me as a leader who wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so," Hadley said.
After meeting Maliki a month ago in Baghdad, Hadley told Bush the prime minister needed political help and a possible shake-up of the national unity government. Maliki has promised a reshuffle -- but a similar pledge in August came to nothing.
Maliki is still performing a delicate balancing act between fellow Shi'ites who complain he has failed to crush al Qaeda or other Sunni insurgents and Sunnis accusing him of ignoring them and giving free rein to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.
MUTUAL AID
One bit of help Maliki wants from Bush is more control over his own security forces, as well as more latitude to show Iraqis that as "commander-in-chief" he is not just an American puppet.
A show of irritation a month ago, which won Maliki a promise of faster training for Iraq's army and police, helped burnish an image of independence, even if U.S. and Iraqi officials deny the ever-courteous Islamist told Bush bluntly on the phone: "I'm not America's man" -- words attributed to him by a Dawa party ally.
Washington seems, however, quite willing to take minute doses of criticism by Maliki in the hope it might strengthen his hand against the leaders of the powerful factions that make up an ever more fractious coalition of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.
In return, Bush will want to show American voters who handed Congress to his Democratic opponents this month that Maliki is the man who can take "tough decisions" -- code for stopping Shi'ite death squads -- and therefore still merits U.S. support.
Just being in Jordan, Maliki will defy a key ally, young cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who demanded he stay away after last week's deadly Baghdad bombing that killed more than 200.
Washington hopes Maliki will show more of that determination by making good on promises to disband Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Some Democrats want Bush to set a timetable for withdrawal as a means of forcing Maliki's hand in that direction. But some analysts warn against pushing him too hard: "You can't put pressure on a wounded guy," said retired general Anthony Zinni.
It is a mark of growing frustration in the United States that Maliki has more than once had to insist he does not fear a much-rumored U.S.-backed coup to oust him. Yet there are few clear alternatives if Iraq is to have representative government.
Though many Iraqis, tired of chaos, speak wistfully of the return of a "strongman" in the mold of Saddam Hussein, Maliki's personal weakness is in some ways a source of strength for the 56-year-old former exile intellectual -- any more powerful figure would be unlikely to be accepted by the other parties.
Reuters
Nuri al-Maliki still does, it seems, and he meets George W. Bush on Wednesday and Thursday, seeking U.S. help. The president hopes Maliki can return the favor after seven months in which Maliki's government has failed to halt a slide into civil war.
The talks in Jordan, safe from the violence of Baghdad, may give pointers to Maliki's chances of survival at the head of a coalition of hostile factions and to how Bush hopes to extricate 140,000 American troops from Iraq without leaving it in anarchy
U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear they see Maliki, a compromise choice with a modest personal power base, as their best bet -- despite mounting frustration with his failure to make good yet on promises to disband armed groups, especially militias loyal to more powerful fellow Shi'ite Islamists.
A memo from National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, leaked to the New York Times, echoed private comments by Americans in Iraq: "He impressed me as a leader who wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so," Hadley said.
After meeting Maliki a month ago in Baghdad, Hadley told Bush the prime minister needed political help and a possible shake-up of the national unity government. Maliki has promised a reshuffle -- but a similar pledge in August came to nothing.
Maliki is still performing a delicate balancing act between fellow Shi'ites who complain he has failed to crush al Qaeda or other Sunni insurgents and Sunnis accusing him of ignoring them and giving free rein to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.
MUTUAL AID
One bit of help Maliki wants from Bush is more control over his own security forces, as well as more latitude to show Iraqis that as "commander-in-chief" he is not just an American puppet.
A show of irritation a month ago, which won Maliki a promise of faster training for Iraq's army and police, helped burnish an image of independence, even if U.S. and Iraqi officials deny the ever-courteous Islamist told Bush bluntly on the phone: "I'm not America's man" -- words attributed to him by a Dawa party ally.
Washington seems, however, quite willing to take minute doses of criticism by Maliki in the hope it might strengthen his hand against the leaders of the powerful factions that make up an ever more fractious coalition of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.
In return, Bush will want to show American voters who handed Congress to his Democratic opponents this month that Maliki is the man who can take "tough decisions" -- code for stopping Shi'ite death squads -- and therefore still merits U.S. support.
Just being in Jordan, Maliki will defy a key ally, young cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who demanded he stay away after last week's deadly Baghdad bombing that killed more than 200.
Washington hopes Maliki will show more of that determination by making good on promises to disband Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Some Democrats want Bush to set a timetable for withdrawal as a means of forcing Maliki's hand in that direction. But some analysts warn against pushing him too hard: "You can't put pressure on a wounded guy," said retired general Anthony Zinni.
It is a mark of growing frustration in the United States that Maliki has more than once had to insist he does not fear a much-rumored U.S.-backed coup to oust him. Yet there are few clear alternatives if Iraq is to have representative government.
Though many Iraqis, tired of chaos, speak wistfully of the return of a "strongman" in the mold of Saddam Hussein, Maliki's personal weakness is in some ways a source of strength for the 56-year-old former exile intellectual -- any more powerful figure would be unlikely to be accepted by the other parties.
Reuters
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