US News
Al-Maliki meets with Bush at White House
By DPA
Jul 25, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met at the White House on Tuesday amid a rise in violence in Iraq.

Baghdad has been the scene of a surge of attacks that has claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks in an insurgency that has shown its resilience despite the death of militant leader Musub al-Zarqawi in May.

The events in Iraq have been largely overshadowed by the crisis in Lebanon.

Al-Maliki has strongly criticized Israel, a US ally, for the military assault on Lebanon following the abduction of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants two weeks ago. The US has backed Israel\'s resistance to a ceasefire until the root problems can be solved.

Bush and al-Maliki were also to discuss the reconstruction effort in Iraq and the Iraqi leader\'s plans to move forward with a reconciliation commission to address the difficult history between Shiites and Sunnis.

The two leaders were to hold a news conference later Tuesday morning.