On Monday at the White House, President Bush met with one of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

President Bush: “I appreciate so very much His Eminence’s commitment to a unity government. I assured him the United States supports his work and the work of the prime minister to unify the country. Part of unifying Iraq is for the elected leaders and society leaders to reject the extremists that are trying to stop the advance of this young democracy.”

Hakim is the leader of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the head of the Badr Brigade — a Shiite militia accused of operating death squads. He rejected calls for an international conference to deal with the Iraq crisis.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim: “We believe that the Iraqi issue should be solved by the Iraqis with the help of friends everywhere. But we reject any attempts to have a regional or international role in solving the Iraqi issue. We cannot bypass the political process. Iraq should be in a position to solve Iraqi problems.”

Hakim also called on the United States to crack down harder on Sunni insurgents. The Shiite cleric said, “Eliminating the danger of civil war in Iraq could only be achieved through directing decisive strikes against Baathist terrorists in Iraq.”