Iraq PM, meeting Bush, harried on all sides

BAGHDAD, Nov 29 (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 today and tomorrow, seeking U S help. The president hopes Maliki can return the favour 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.

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