US tries broader approach to Iraq conflict

WASHINGTON, Nov 25: With Iraq near all-out civil war, the Bush administration is renewing efforts to break the cycle of violence there by enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations while also seeking to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are due to meet next week and Vice President Dick Cheney left for Saudi Arabia yesterday for talks on the Middle East.

''The vice president is looking forward to meeting with King Abdullah, a strong ally, to discuss regional issues of mutual interest,'' said Lea Anne McBride, Cheney's spokeswoman, as the vice president's plane made a brief stop in Ireland.

The United States wants Saudi Arabia to use its influence with Iraq's Sunni minority to help stabilize the country. On Thursday, car bombs killed more than 200 people in a Shi'ite stronghold in Baghdad in the worst single attack since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003.

Bush and Maliki will discuss security in Iraq at their meeting, in what is shaping up to be a crisis summit.

The surge in violence in Iraq came as US public discontent with the Iraq war was hammered home in November 7 elections in which Bush's Republican Party lost control of houses of Congress.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other European leaders want Bush to take a more active role in reviving the Middle East peace process. But Bush has so far avoided the hands-on approach to Middle East peacemaking of his predecessors.

That may change as Bush turns increasingly for advice to figures from his father's administration like former Secretary of State James Baker who is leading a review on Iraq policy, some analysts said.

Reuters