Bush tells Shia cleric of US displeasure at Iraq's progress

President George W. Bush told a powerful Iraqi Shia cleric yesterday that he was 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, the 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 ofmilitary authority from the US commander to the Iraqi government.

Speaking later at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), Mr Hakim criticised US forces for not cracking down hard enough on Sunni insurgents.

Decisive strikes were needed, Mr Hakim said. Otherwise, he warned, Shia spiritual leaders might lose their capacity to contain Shia 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 tomorrow. A gradual redeployment of US combat troops by early 2008 is expected to form the core proposal. But there was no suggestion by Mr Bush or Mr 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," Mr Bush said.

Although White House officials portrayed the meeting as part of a normalprocess of consultation with Iraqi politicians, Mr Hakim's visit to the White House fuelled the perception of an administration that is desperately seeking a new direction in Iraq.

Asked whether Iraqis were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein - as asserted by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, in a BBC interview - the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, replied: "You will have to ask the Iraqi people."

Mr Hakim vies with Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric and militia leader, for the mantle of Iraq's most powerful Shia politician. Their family feud is generational. Both their militias have been accused of involvement in sectarian violence against the Sunni Arab minority - a charge Mr Hakim denies.

Mr 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.

Mr Bush and Mr Hakim have both rejected a proposal by Mr Annan, which is expected to be echoed by the Iraq Study Group, for direct US engagement with Iran and Syria. Mr Hakim said Iraq would deal with its neighbours.

Mr Hakim's support for the coalition government is crucial to its survival, although his relations with Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, are difficult and he may be angling for US support for one of his allies to replace him.

Judith Yaphe, a senior 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.

Diplomats said Mr Khalilzad is expected to leave his Baghdad post early next year. He has been sharply criticised by the Shia leadership but his move may be connected to a wider diplomatic reshuffle.