US President George W. Bush, through his talks and a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the White House Tuesday, has found that they differ on many issues.

 

Their clear points of difference, some of them profound, could potentially pose a new challenge to the Bush administration, which has already been facing an uphill struggle in a troubled Iraq.

 

Bush has hailed Maliki's win in the "free and fair" elections held since the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime, and has eagerly wanted to show progress in Iraq through the visit by Maliki.

 

"I just had a very constructive meeting with the leader of a government that has been chosen by the Iraqi people in free and fair elections," Bush said at the beginning of his joint press conference with Maliki.

 

While admitting that there were still significant challenges to face, Bush insisted that Iraq was making progress.

 

"We still face challenges in Baghdad, yet we see progress elsewhere in Iraq. Iraqi security forces are growing in strength and capability, and recently a key province in southern Iraq was transferred to full Iraqi civilian control," Bush noted.

 

The transfer of southern Muthanna Province to Iraqi control was the beginning of the handover of other provinces to full Iraqi jurisdiction, Bush added.

 

However, Bush's optimism has been countered and eroded by the continuous suicide bombings and shootings in Iraq, especially in Baghdad.

 

Days before Maliki's visit to Washington, there were a spate of attacks in Iraq's capital. Bombers killed at least 64 people in Baghdad Sunday, marking one of the bloodiest day in the city since the start of this year.

 

A UN report released earlier this month painted a bleak picture for Iraq's security situation by declaring that at least 50,000 people have been killed since the Iraq war started in 2003 and over 5,800 people were killed in May and June alone. Such heavy civilian casualties have raised questions about the ability of US-trained Iraqi police to cope with sectarian violence.

 

To make things worse, Bush found that he had some sharp disagreements with his Iraqi guest during their talks.

 

According to a report by the New York Times on Tuesday, the Iraqi government headed by Maliki has requested that Bush cancel the immunity under which American troops operate in Iraq in order to allow them to be tried under Iraq law, but this is being strongly rejected by Washington; Maliki also wants the Bush administration to grant amnesty to those Sunnis who have attacked US troops in Iraq, but this too met with fervent opposition from the Bush administration.

 

Moreover, Maliki has condemned Israel's military action in Lebanon and wants to maintain good ties with Iran, a country branded by the US as one member of the "axis of evil."

 

"The prime minister and I spent time talking about Lebanon, and we had a frank exchange of views on this situation," Bush said during the joint press conference with Maliki, using diplomatic wording for what amounted to a sharp disagreement behind closed doors.

 

Maliki said that he called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, although the Bush administration has repeatedly resisted the call for an immediate ceasefire.

 

The growing differences between Iraqi and American policies reflect an increasing disenchantment with American power among politicians and ordinary Iraqis, the New York Times report said, adding that Maliki, as a Shiite, has been speaking for both Iraqi politicians and ordinary people in order to gain more popular support.

 

It seems that further disagreement could appear between the Bush administration and the Maliki government in the future, and that would be likely to make the US strategy for Iraq more difficult to implement, and success in Iraq a more distant dream.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2006)