Bush To Meet With Sunni And Shi'a Leaders - Political Forum

CHUQ · 12-02-2006, 05:24 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will hold White House talks with a top leader of Iraq's majority Shi'ites on Monday and will also meet the country's Sunni vice president next month, U.S. officials said.

The scheduled talks appeared to signal more direct engagement by Bush, following a crisis summit with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on Thursday, to help calm sectarian violence in Iraq.

The White House said on Friday Bush will meet Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim for "an exchange of views and a discussion of important issues facing Iraq today." Hakim heads the SCIRI movement, whose armed wing, the Badr Brigade, has been accused of running death squads, an allegation it denies.

U.S. President George W. Bush hosts a meeting on World AIDS Day at the White House in Washington December 1, 2006. Bush will hold White House talks with a top leader of Iraq's majority Shi'ites on Monday and will also meet the country's Sunni vice president next month, U.S. officials said. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)
Bush will meet Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi next month, an administration official said, but gave no further details

Will this be a beginning to the end? Is it a good idea?

Of course it is a good idea. I think any conversation with those involved can do no harm.

Bush to meet Iraqi Shi'ite, Sunni leaders

Thoughts, please.

CHUQ · 12-05-2006, 05:44 AM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen and bombers killed 30 people in Baghdad on Tuesday, including 14 Shi'ite religious workers after a powerful Iraqi Shi'ite leader urged President
George Bush to strike harder at Sunni rebels to avert civil war.

Gunmen killed the 14 employees of a Shi'ite religious foundation in the capital, while officials said three car bombs killed 16 people and wounded 25 in a separate attack near a fuel station in a religiously mixed area in southern Baghdad.

THe meetings that are being reported as a major deal to bring peace to the Iraqi countryside is going along religious lines. Go figure!

Baghdad attacks kill 30, gunmen target Shi'ites - Yahoo! News

CHUQ · 12-06-2006, 04:45 AM

Apparently NO ONE sees this meetings as important.

This is a VOA link and it will not let me post the link. sorry!

An influential Iraqi Shi'ite leader says Tuesday, Islam holds great potential for the future of Iraq. VOA's Sean Maroney reports from Washington.

Iraqi Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim said Islam allows for political freedoms that are essential for Iraq - a country still adjusting from the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

"Man is free to choose what he wants, to live whenever he likes, to adopt any political system, to speak his opinion even though this opinion might contradict that of the ruler," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

Hakim heads the Iraqi Shi'ite faction known as the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution. This group holds a large block of seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Speaking at Catholic University, Hakim delivered a lecture on Shi'ite Islamic freedoms and the future of Iraq. He said Islam's political freedoms come with an important responsibility.

"It believes in the freedom of mankind to take any position with regard to the public issues as long as this does not violate the public interests," he said.

He said people are given wide freedoms as long as they do not threaten to destroy society or promote fighting or corruption.

Hakim voiced his regret that some groups in his country and elsewhere are using Islam in order to, what he calls, "cover up their crimes."

"The tragedies that we see in Iraq today are because of those who misunderstood Islam and harmed Islam by they own actions and crimes against Islam," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

He added that some of these groups, which kill Muslims and non-Muslims alike, have their own political agenda.

"Because they lost the power - which they enjoyed during Saddam - and now trying to regain this power through force, killing and terror," he said.

Hakim has been in Washington for briefings with top U.S. officials at the invitation of the White House. On Monday, he sat down with President Bush and said peace and stability in Iraq is in the hands of the Iraqi people.

I decided to give the whole article from VOA

lordoftheworld · 12-06-2006, 01:28 PM

[quote=CHUQ;8516]BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen and bombers killed 30 people in Baghdad on Tuesday, including 14 Shi'ite religious workers after a powerful Iraqi Shi'ite leader urged President
George Bush to strike harder at Sunni rebels to avert civil war.

Gunmen killed the 14 employees of a Shi'ite religious foundation in the capital, while officials said three car bombs killed 16 people and wounded 25 in a separate attack near a fuel station in a religiously mixed area in southern Baghdad.

QUOTE]

So is this the Sunnie rebels that killed the Shi'ites? I wasn't quite clear.

lordoftheworld · 12-06-2006, 01:37 PM

Of course it's a good thing to meet with this man. He is a powerful religous leader, and a leader in the government. He probably has a lot of influence with many Sunni's. He needs to meet with these two leaders at the same time to discuss compromises between them. Bush needs to have more meetings with Iraqi government officials and religous leaders. As far as i can tell, it's only once in a while. For Bush to gain any miniscule amount of trust from the Iraqi people, he needs to make it look like he's giving a strong effort to unify their country. He started this war with promises to the IRaqi people, now he needs to get involved and come through with those promises.

If Bush could sit down with their religous leaders, maybe they could figure out some shit.

lordoftheworld · 12-06-2006, 01:42 PM

U had another link to an article that said something about the insurgents and milita making no-mans-land in areas in Baghdad. That's bull shit. The US needs to bring in a shit load of troops and gain control over all of Baghdad and stay their as a police force. They need to make annual sweeps through the city. ANY sect, Sunni of Shi'ite, that has an armed force needs to be de-armed. You can't have oppsing forces that are at civil war have their own little religous armies killing eac other. I read somewhere, i think on this website, that the IRaq president told some US troops they were not to enter a city and take it from some aremd religous leader. The Iraq President needs to show everyone that peace is the main goal right now. Stop the violence, the quicker the US can leave. They hate us that much, stop killing us and their own people, and we can leave. They need to understand this.

CHUQ · 12-07-2006, 04:23 AM

[quote=lordoftheworld;8826]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHUQ

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen and bombers killed 30 people in Baghdad on Tuesday, including 14 Shi'ite religious workers after a powerful Iraqi Shi'ite leader urged President
George Bush to strike harder at Sunni rebels to avert civil war.

Gunmen killed the 14 employees of a Shi'ite religious foundation in the capital, while officials said three car bombs killed 16 people and wounded 25 in a separate attack near a fuel station in a religiously mixed area in southern Baghdad.

QUOTE]

So is this the Sunnie rebels that killed the Shi'ites? I wasn't quite clear.

Yhat was the accusation. I do not believe they have proven it yet.

CHUQ · 12-07-2006, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordoftheworld

U had another link to an article that said something about the insurgents and milita making no-mans-land in areas in Baghdad. That's bull shit. The US needs to bring in a shit load of troops and gain control over all of Baghdad and stay their as a police force. They need to make annual sweeps through the city. ANY sect, Sunni of Shi'ite, that has an armed force needs to be de-armed. You can't have oppsing forces that are at civil war have their own little religous armies killing eac other. I read somewhere, i think on this website, that the IRaq president told some US troops they were not to enter a city and take it from some aremd religous leader. The Iraq President needs to show everyone that peace is the main goal right now. Stop the violence, the quicker the US can leave. They hate us that much, stop killing us and their own people, and we can leave. They need to understand this.

BS or not--shit load of troops or not--I do not that no control will happen until the Iraqi people want it to happen.