AMMAN — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki was warned
not to meet President George W. Bush.
U.S. officials said Al Maliki was informed by his advisers that talks
with Bush would endanger his government and life. The officials said
Iranian-backed insurgents have threatened to kill him when he returns from
his meetings in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
"He [Al Maliki] was told that if he meets Bush, he should not come
back," an official said.
The official said the threats against Al Maliki were also reported by
U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. The official said the threats led
to a revision of Bush's schedule in Jordan.
On Thursday, Al Maliki and Bush met in a low-key early-morning session
in Amman. After the two-and-a-half hour session, both leaders demonstrated
restraint during a joint news conference.
"One of his frustrations with me is that he believes that we've been
slow about giving him the tools necessary to protect the Iraqi people," Bush
said of Al Maliki. "He doesn't have the capacity to respond. So we want to
accelerate that capacity."
Earlier, Al Maliki canceled a meeting with Bush and Jordan's King
Abdullah scheduled for Wednesday in wake of the leak of a classified
memorandum by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley that asserted that
the Iraqi prime minister had lost control of his government and could not
stop Sunni-Shi'ite violence.
"It's [cancellation of Al Maliki meeting] not a snub of the president,
nor is it a snub of the prime minister, period," a senior administration
official said on Wednesday.
Officials said the Hadley memo questioned Al Maliki's intentions and
capabilities. The memo raised the prospect that Al Maliki was misleading the
United States.
"The reality on the streets suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what's
going on, misrepresenting his intentions or that his capabilities are not
yet sufficient," the Nov. 8 memo said.
The Al Maliki meeting with Bush has rocked the government in Baghdad.
The bloc of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, with 30 members of parliament,
announced the suspension of its participation in the Al Maliki government.
"This visit hijacked the will of the people during days when the sons of
Iraq write their destiny with blood and not ink," a statement by the Al Sadr
bloc said.
Officials said Al Maliki has come under increasing threat from both
Iranian- and U.S.-backed factions in Iraq. They said both have become
dissatisfied with his performance in dealing with the civil war in Iraq.
"Those who participate in this government need to bear
responsibilities," Al Maliki told the news conference on Thursday. "And
foremost upon those responsibilities is the protection of this government,
the protection of the constitution, the protection of the law, not breaking
the law."
The U.S. Defense Department has been examining a redeployment of the
140,000 American troops in Iraq. Officials said this would include the
withdrawal of units from the western Anbar province and the addition of four
battalions in Baghdad.
"Number one, eventually over time, it is our goal to turn over every
province in Iraq to the Iraq security forces under the command and control
of the Iraq government," Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said. "That is our goal. There is no immediate thoughts to moving
all coalition forces out of Al Anbar province and turning over right now
today all security in Al Anbar to Iraqi security forces. It's not on the
table."