Bush meets Iraq premier as civil war fears grow

US President George Bush arrived at Amman airport tonight to begin a two-day visit with Jordan’s king and Iraq’s prime minister for talks on finding a way to calm the sectarian violence that threatens to tear Iraq apart.

Bush arrived on Air Force One and was scheduled to immediately go to King Abdullah II’s hilltop palace to begin talks with the two Mideast leaders.

The king today urged Iraq’s prime minister Nouri Maliki and President Bush to find a way to end Iraq’s spiralling violence and hand over security control to Baghdad before the country slides into a full-scale civil war.

Abdullah met with Maliki ahead of crucial talks with Bush in Amman, where the Iraqi and American leaders were set to talk about how to end the sectarian violence plaguing the country.

But underscoring the political divisions in Iraq, lawmakers and cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suspended their participation in the country’s parliament and the government to protest Maliki’s meeting with Bush.

A Jordanian government official has declined to confirm reports from Arab diplomats in Baghdad who have said that Abdullah would unveil a proposal thought to envisage the formation of a new Iraqi national unity government.

But a Royal Palace statement said Abdullah called on Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq to end their differences and take a “unified stance to ban the bloodshed on the Muslims.”

Abdullah stressed the need for “a clear mechanism to put an end for security deterioration in Iraq and help Iraqi police and military forces to take control in the country,” the Royal Palace statement said.

“The success of Maliki’s government in controlling violence in Iraq is a priority to Jordan,” Abdullah said, according to the statement.

But back in Baghdad, 30 Iraqi lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers who suspended their participation said their action was necessary because the meeting between Bush and Maliki constituted a “provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights,” according to a statement.

The political pressure tactic was certain to weigh on Maliki’s talks with Bush.

Maliki told Abdullah he hoped Arab countries would support the political process in Iraq and said he was firmly committed to a democratically elected Iraqi government.

“We went far in the democratic process, and there is no way we will abandon this process,” Maliki said, according to the palace statement.

The US is seeking to transfer responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, and expand its training of Iraqi troops, with a view to withdrawing American soldiers from the country.

At the same time, Maliki has been pushing for his government to gain greater control over security. Before flying out of Baghdad airport, the prime minister said he planned to discuss with Bush “the handing over of the security file” - meaning allowing Iraqi security forces to take over from US troops.

Earlier today, Abdullah condemned all terrorist attacks in Iraq – whether they are against Shiites or Sunnis – during a meeting with the Iraqi Muslim Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim. The bulk of the recent attacks have been carried out by militiamen from Iraq’s Shiite majority.

The king has conducted intensive talks with Iraqi political and religious leaders in recent days. He has met Sunni scholar Harith al-Dhari, the politician Adnan al-Dulaimi, and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni politician.

Last weekend, Abdullah hosted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, another neighbour of Iraq that is concerned about the increasing violence there.