By Tabassum Zakaria and Suleiman al-Khalidi
Amman - United States President George Bush praised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as the "right guy" for Iraq on Thursday and said he agreed with the Iraqi leader that partitioning the country would only increase violence.
Bush declared support for Maliki after US officials insisted the Iraqi leader was not offended by a critical White House memo and had not snubbed Bush in Amman on Wednesday when the two had been expected to hold an initial meeting.
"He's the right guy for Iraq and we're going to help him and it's in our interest to help him," Bush told a joint news conference with Maliki in the Jordanian capital.
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"It's in our interests to help liberty prevail in the Middle East, starting with Iraq. And that's why this business about graceful exit simply has no realism to it at all."
Bush said he and Maliki had ruled out any idea of dividing Iraq as a way to halt rampant sectarian violence.
"The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want and that any partition of Iraq would only lead to an increase in sectarian violence. I agree," he said.
Bush said they had also agreed to speed up the training of Iraqi security forces and handing over security authority to Iraqis. US troops were in Iraq to "get the job done" and would stay as long as the Baghdad government wanted them there.
"It's not easy for a military to evolve from ground zero," he said of Maliki's efforts to build Iraqi forces, acknowledging that the Iraqi leader was "frustrated by the pace".
Bush was speaking after reports the Iraq Study Group will recommend the US military shift from combat to a support role in Iraq, and will call for a regional conference that could lead to direct US talks with Iran and Syria, both accused by Washington of fomenting violence in their neighbour.
Maliki said his country wanted good ties with its neighbours but warned against external meddling.
"Iraq is for Iraqis. Its frontiers are defended and we will not allow them to be violated or let people interfere in our internal affairs," he said.
A source familiar with the deliberations of the independent, bipartisan group said the idea was for US combat forces to pull back to bases in Iraq and in the region over the next year or so. "It's basically a redeployment," the source said.
The panel is to present its report to Bush on December 6.
The emir of neighbouring Kuwait was quoted as saying a US pullout would not stabilise Iraq. "On the contrary, the situation would worsen and we would see a civil war of great intensity for which the whole world would pay the price," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told the French daily Le Figaro.
Bush had expected to see Maliki on Wednesday, along with Jordan's King Abdullah. He was told on the way from Latvia, where he attended a Nato summit, that the Jordanians and Iraqis had decided against a three-way meeting, a US official said.
In the end, Abdullah met both leaders separately.
US officials insisted the change had nothing to do with a memo by White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley that questioned Maliki's ability to control the turmoil in Iraq.
Bush had only kind words for the premier, who has been criticised for not curbing militias run by his Shi'a allies.
"I'm talking to the man face-to-face and he says that he understands that a unified government, a pluralistic society, is important for success and he's making hard decisions to achieve that," he said, calling Maliki a man of "courage".
"No question it's a violent society right now. He knows that better than anybody. He was explaining to me that occasionally the house in which he lives gets shelled by the terrorists who are trying to frighten him," he said.
Bush is under pressure at home and abroad to change strategy on Iraq, where sectarian violence shows no sign of abating although the White House does not describe it as a civil war.
In Dubai, an Iraqi militant group urged its Sunni followers in Baghdad to wage holy war against Shi'ite militias.
"Baghdad is your city. Do not leave it for the strangers who intend to expel you. It is a battle of destiny now," the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks on US troops in Iraq and the kidnapping of some foreigners, as well as attacks on Shi'a militias in recent months.
Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Dean Yates in Amman, Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Francois Murphy in Paris
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