Iraqi Shiite with Iran ties�to visit Bush - CNN.com:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a top Iraqi Shiite leader with close ties to Iran, will meet with President Bush next week, the White House confirmed Friday.
Al-Hakim leads the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, a rival group to the political movement led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the meeting was set for Monday.
'President Bush looks forward to an exchange of views and a discussion of important issues facing Iraq today,' Johndroe said.
Also, a senior administration official said Bush will meet with a Sunni leader -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi -- in January at the White House.
The visits come against a backdrop of deadly Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare in Iraq that has led some observers to say a civil war has engulfed the country.
Bush returned from a summit Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan focusing on the deteriorating security situation.
Al-Hakim and Bush will discuss the political crisis in Iraq, said al-Hakim's aide, Haitham Husseini.
But Husseini declined to discuss whether the Washington visit would mark the beginning of a dialogue between the United States and Iran. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq also has closes ties with neighboring Iran."
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a top Iraqi Shiite leader with close ties to Iran, will meet with President Bush next week, the White House confirmed Friday.
Al-Hakim leads the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, a rival group to the political movement led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the meeting was set for Monday.
'President Bush looks forward to an exchange of views and a discussion of important issues facing Iraq today,' Johndroe said.
Also, a senior administration official said Bush will meet with a Sunni leader -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi -- in January at the White House.
The visits come against a backdrop of deadly Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare in Iraq that has led some observers to say a civil war has engulfed the country.
Bush returned from a summit Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan focusing on the deteriorating security situation.
Al-Hakim and Bush will discuss the political crisis in Iraq, said al-Hakim's aide, Haitham Husseini.
But Husseini declined to discuss whether the Washington visit would mark the beginning of a dialogue between the United States and Iran. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq also has closes ties with neighboring Iran."
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