AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - President Bush's high-profile meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday was canceled in a stunning turn of events after disclosure of U.S. doubts about the Iraqi leader's capabilities and a political boycott in Baghdad protesting his attendance. Instead of two days of talks, Bush and al-Maliki will have breakfast and a single meeting followed by a news conference on Thursday morning, the White House said. The abrupt cancellation was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. There was confusion - and conflicting explanations - about what happened. Bush had been scheduled to meet in a three-way session with al-Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday night, and had rearranged his schedule to be in Amman for both days for talks aimed at reducing the spiral of violence in Iraq. The last-minute cancellation was not announced until Bush had already come to Raghadan Palace and posed for photographs alone with the king.
Instead of two days of talks, Bush and al-Maliki will have breakfast and a single meeting followed by a news conference on Thursday morning, the White House said.
The abrupt cancellation was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. There was confusion - and conflicting explanations - about what happened.
Bush had been scheduled to meet in a three-way session with al-Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday night, and had rearranged his schedule to be in Amman for both days for talks aimed at reducing the spiral of violence in Iraq.
The last-minute cancellation was not announced until Bush had already come to Raghadan Palace and posed for photographs alone with the king.
In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
[...] The decision [to cancel the meeting] occurred on a day that a classified White House memorandum expressing doubts about Mr. Maliki was disclosed and after Iraqi officials loyal to a powerful Shiite cleric said they were suspending participation in the Maliki government because he had ignored their request to cancel the Bush meeting entirely. The president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were already aboard Air Force One, on the way to Amman from Riga, Latvia, where they had been attending a NATO summit meeting, when they received the news by telephone from the United States ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. The White House insisted Mr. Bush was not upset and had not been snubbed. "Absolutely not," said Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president. [yeah, right - ed.] [...] The White House tacked the hastily planned trip to Amman onto Mr. Bush's swing through the Baltics so he could meet Mr. Maliki on safe ground. But the careful orchestration leading up to the Bush-Maliki summit meeting -- including a news conference Tuesday in Estonia, where Mr. Bush promised to press the Iraqi prime minister on his strategy for stability -- was upended when The New York Times published the classified assessment of Mr. Maliki in Wednesday's issue. The memo, written by the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, said that while Mr. Maliki seemed to have good intentions when talking with Americans, "the reality on the streets suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what's going on, misrepresenting his intentions or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient." Publication of the memorandum just as Mr. Bush was to see Mr. Maliki left the White House struggling to put a positive spin on the news on a day when it had hoped to highlight a decision by NATO members that would lift some restrictions on troops operating in Afghanistan.
The decision [to cancel the meeting] occurred on a day that a classified White House memorandum expressing doubts about Mr. Maliki was disclosed and after Iraqi officials loyal to a powerful Shiite cleric said they were suspending participation in the Maliki government because he had ignored their request to cancel the Bush meeting entirely.
The president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were already aboard Air Force One, on the way to Amman from Riga, Latvia, where they had been attending a NATO summit meeting, when they received the news by telephone from the United States ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. The White House insisted Mr. Bush was not upset and had not been snubbed.
"Absolutely not," said Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president. [yeah, right - ed.]
[...]
The White House tacked the hastily planned trip to Amman onto Mr. Bush's swing through the Baltics so he could meet Mr. Maliki on safe ground. But the careful orchestration leading up to the Bush-Maliki summit meeting -- including a news conference Tuesday in Estonia, where Mr. Bush promised to press the Iraqi prime minister on his strategy for stability -- was upended when The New York Times published the classified assessment of Mr. Maliki in Wednesday's issue.
The memo, written by the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, said that while Mr. Maliki seemed to have good intentions when talking with Americans, "the reality on the streets suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what's going on, misrepresenting his intentions or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient."
Publication of the memorandum just as Mr. Bush was to see Mr. Maliki left the White House struggling to put a positive spin on the news on a day when it had hoped to highlight a decision by NATO members that would lift some restrictions on troops operating in Afghanistan.
