Bush cancels meeting with Iraq PM; "Unheard of development" says AP

by Actual News Geezer | November 29, 2006 at 05:00 pm

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This was supposed to have been a big deal, until the New York Times reported a secret White House memo leaked Nov. 28, just a day before the meeting was to have taken place.

Now Pres. Bush has cancelled the "Iraq summit meeting" with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- President Bush's high-profile meeting with Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday was postponed after disclosure of U.S. doubts about the Iraqi prime minister'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 change was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. There were conflicting explanations about what happened.