Bush, Maliki to focus on Iraq security

RIGA, Nov 29 (Reuters) President George W Bush, under pressure to change strategy in Iraq, meets Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today after making clear he does not support calls for US talks with Iran or withdrawing American troops.

Bush is under growing pressure at home and abroad to take a new course in Iraq, where escalating sectarian violence is prompting even some of his allies to say the country is on the brink of civil war.

But ahead of the two-day meeting with Maliki in Jordan, he resisted calling the bloodshed civil war, and held to his view that the fight in Iraq was part of a broader struggle between democracy and extremism across the West Asia.

Bush has said his goal is for Iraqis to take charge of their country's security before US troops can pull out.

''We will discuss the situation on the ground in his country, our ongoing efforts to transfer more responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, and the responsibility of other nations in the region to support the security and stability of Iraq,'' Bush said in Latvia where he was attending a NATO summit.

''We'll continue to be flexible, and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed,'' he said. ''But there's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete.'' A senior White House official said the United States recognised that Maliki had a difficult task, but efforts of the Iraqi government and US-led coalition to get greater control of the security situation in Baghdad had not been successful.

''It has not produced adequate progress in an acceptable time frame,'' national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

UNDER PRESSURE Jordan's King Abdullah, who will join Bush and Maliki on Wednesday, said this week that ''something dramatic'' must come from the Amman meeting.

Bush is also under pressure at home to shift gears after his Republican Party lost control of Congress in November elections partly due to the unpopular Iraq war in which more than 2,800 American troops have been killed.

But he gave a defiant defence of his invasion of Iraq and policy of trying to spread democracy in the West Asia in a keynote speech at the University of Latvia.

Democrats, who take over control of Congress when it convenes in January, believe the elections were a public mandate for change on Iraq, and some are calling for a phased withdrawal of US troops to begin next year.

''It is our goal in the new Democratic majority to try to work in a bipartisan way with the president -- to not 'stay the course' but to deal with the issues in Iraq so that we can stop the violence,'' said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California who is set to become the leader of the US House of Representatives.

''If the president persists on the course that he is on that will be more difficult,'' she said.

Bush also rejected unconditional direct talks with Iran over helping its neighbour Iraq on the security front, saying Tehran must first stop uranium enrichment.

But he said it was up to Iraq to decide on its relationship with neighbours Iran and Syria.

''Iraq is a sovereign nation which is conducting its own foreign policy. They're having talks with their neighbours. And if that's what they think they ought to do, that's fine. I hope their talks yield results,'' he said.

REUTERS SBA BST0531