Bush's Gut Feeling On Maliki Is Positive

Another senior official, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the administration's internal assessments, said the White House also believes Maliki weathered significant political pressure in putting together his cabinet, and showed courage in going ahead with a recent visit to Basra, the increasingly violent southern city. "What he has done so far has been impressive," the senior official said.

Bush's initial public reactions to Allawi and Jafari were also favorable, so in some respects his embrace of Maliki was not unexpected. Still, his several hours with Maliki in Baghdad seemed to solidify the bond Bush appears to crave with foreign counterparts. Traveling back to Washington on Air Force One, Bush told reporters that Maliki impressed him as "a no-nonsense guy that talks about priorities and how he's going to achieve those priorities. And that's comforting."

Expanding further at a Rose Garden news conference the next day, Bush said he went to Baghdad for a "firsthand feel" for the new government. "I understand leadership," Bush said. "You've got to have will. You've got to have desire to succeed. You've got to have a plan. And that's what I found in Iraq."

Whether that assessment is correct is the subject of debate. "The administration has no choice but to make the best of a possibly bad bargain in embracing this government," said James Dobbins of the Rand Corp., a former U.S. diplomat with extensive experience in strife-ridden countries. Maliki "said the right things -- at this stage, all we can hope for is that he is capable of following through on those commitments."

In Baghdad, Ahmed Ali Hussein, 34, who runs a fish restaurant along the Tigris River, said he was glad for Bush's visit and hopeful that U.S. support could curb violence. But he indicated wariness of the new Iraqi administration. "I do not recognize the government," he said. "They don't provide security or any of the necessary services like electricity and water."

Larry Diamond, who worked briefly for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq only to become a sharp critic of U.S. efforts, said Maliki appears to be a more realistic and politically savvy leader than his predecessors. But Diamond warned that the administration needs to capitalize quickly on recent good news, especially the death of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, while not smothering Maliki in an embrace that makes it appear he is a U.S. puppet.

"There are not too many bullets left in our strategic arsenal," Diamond said. "If things were to turn direction again and head south [in Iraq], I don't know what would be left to turn things around."

Staff writer Joshua Partlow and special correspondent K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad contributed to this report.