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US: BUSH MEETS SHIITE LEADER December 5, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) President Bush told an Iraqi power broker on Monday that the United States was not satisfied with the progress of efforts to stop the sharp escalation of violence in Iraq.
Bush met at the White House with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite leader of the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament.
Al-Hakim said that he "vehemently" opposes any regional or international effort to solve Iraq's problems that goes around the unity government in Baghdad. Al-Hakim said that Iraq should be able to deal with its problems.
Bush said he spoke with al-Hakim for more than an hour and said they had a "very constructive conversation." "I assured him that the U.S. supports his work and the work of the prime minister to unify the country," Bush said, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
At the moment U.S has said that it is not yet ready to pull its troops out from Iraq until the country is able to stand on its own.