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Maliki won't call off Bush meeting

BAGHDAD, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Despite a threat from followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, Iraq's prime minister has decided to attend a meeting with U.S. President George Bush.

The decision was announced by officials in Baghdad and Iraq Sunday.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is scheduled to begin talks with Bush in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Wednesday. The meeting has drawn a threat from Sadr's followers that they would withdraw from the country's government, The New York Times reported.

Sadr, whose followers make up a large part of the Iraqi Parliament, says the ongoing violence in Iraq largely is due to the presence of U.S. military forces.

Also Sunday, Maliki, a Shiite, joined Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, in a request for national political unity.

The Times said the trio also vowed to bring to justice those who were responsible for Thursday's deadly bombings of the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.

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