ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 4 - US 'Not Satisfied' With Pace Of Iraqi Progress.

Pres Bush tells a powerful Iraqi Shi'ite theologian that he is not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq as they discussed how the US could accelerate assistance to the Baghdad government. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), a key partner in the coalition government, said talks focused on arms and training for the Iraqi army and the transfer of military authority from the US commander to the Iraqi government. Speaking later at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), Hakim criticised US forces for not cracking down hard enough on Sunni insurgents. Decisive strikes were needed, Hakim said. Otherwise, he warned, Shi'ite spiritual leaders might lose their capacity to contain Shi'ite anger and Iraq would be plunged into civil war and "catastrophic storms that no power in the world could calm or control". USIP is assisting the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which is due to release its recommendations for new strategies in Iraq on Dec 7. A gradual redeployment of US combat troops by early 2008 is expected to form the core proposal. But there was no suggestion by Bush or Hakim of adopting such a timeline. "I told His Eminence that I was proud of the courage of the Iraqi people. I told him that we're not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq", Bush said. Although White House officials portrayed the meeting as part of a normal process of consultation with Iraqi politicians, Hakim's visit to the White House fuelled the perception of an administration desperately seeking a new direction. Asked whether Iraqis were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein - as asserted by UN Sec Gen Kofi Annan, n a BBC interview - the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, replied: You will have to ask the Iraqi people". Hakim vies with Muqtada Al Sadr, a radical theologian and militia leader, for the mantle of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite politician. Their family feud is generational. Both their militias have been accused of involvement in sectarian violence against the Sunni Arab minority - a charge Hakim denies. Hakim also maintains close ties to Iran, where he lived in exile after 1980 and went on to lead the Badr brigade, an Iranian-trained and funded militia that fought on the side of Iran against Iraq in their 1980-88 war. Bush and Hakim have rejected a proposal by Annan, which is expected to be echoed by the ISG, for direct US engagement with Iran and Syria. Hakim said Iraq would deal with its neighbours. Hakim's support for the coalition government is crucial to its survival, although his relations with PM Nouri al-Maliki, are difficult and he may be angling for US support for one of his allies to replace him. Judith Yaphe, an analyst at Washington's National Defence University, said: We may be trying to play on long-standing animosity between Sadr and the Hakims. He could be an ally but it's a very dangerous game to play and usually we don't play these games very well". More deaths in Baghdad prompted Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador, and General George Casey, the US commander, to issue a joint plea to Iraqis not to be "drawn down the road of senseless brutality" in tit-for-tat sectarian killings.