Iraqis doubt improvement after Bush-Maliki meeting

BAGHDAD, Nov 30 (Reuters) Many Iraqis held out little hope the promises of security made by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US President George W Bush at their meeting today would translate into peace on the ground.

At Baghdad's Pizza Land near the fortified Green Zone, from where the government rules, diners enjoyed their meals, with scant few paying attention to the small television in the corner broadcasting the Bush-Maliki news conference from Jordan.

Ali, adding salad to his kebab sandwich, said he thought neither Bush or Maliki could solve Iraq's problems.

''The real problem is not with them. We as Iraqis have to be convinced of a peaceful solution and stop fighting each other,'' he said.

Most of the diners rarely glanced at the screen, preferring instead to discuss frequent power shortages with friends, but some listened carefully.

Cook Abbas Kathim stopped topping the latest order of a pork-free pepperoni pizza and walked forward to stick his ear next to the television speaker as he struggled to drown out the noise of the restaurant's generator so he could listen.

''I think this meeting will be very useful. All we want is security for our country and I hope this will finally bring some of it,'' he said as he returned to dice more onions.

''Bush is the man who runs Iraq. This time he seems serious to put an end to the violence and back Maliki,'' Kathim said.

''THE RIGHT GUY'' Bush praised Maliki as the ''right guy'' for Iraq today and said he agreed with the Iraqi leader that partitioning the country would only increase violence.

Saad Najim, a 33 year-old travel agent in the Shi'ite city of Najaf, said Bush's support would empower the government.

''We will see Iraqi forces quell terrorism as long as the Americans don't release those who we arrest,'' Najim said.

In the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, Talib al-Salihi, 60, said the talks would succeed only if Bush backed Maliki's reconciliation plan and the idea of federalism was scrapped.

''We want security to improve but we see no seriousness in the Amman summit,'' he said as he watched the conference from a cafe where he played dominoes with friends. ''I don't want sweet talk, I want action.'' Sameer, a tobacco wholesaler in central Baghdad echoed Salihi's thoughts: ''These kind of meetings often mislead us into false hope.

The politicians always speak in high optimism but we never see any results.'' REUTERS PB RN2025