By Michael Abramowitz and Andy Mosher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 23, 2006; A16

WACO, Tex., July 22 -- The last time President Bush met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, White House officials touted a new security plan for Baghdad as one of the centerpieces of Iraq's fledgling national unity government.

Five weeks later, even the White House concedes that the plan has not worked as hoped: Car bombs, hidden explosives and ambushes by gunmen have killed scores of Iraqis in the capital.

The escalating sectarian violence, perhaps the biggest threat to the U.S. enterprise in Iraq, will take center stage this week when Bush and Maliki meet at the White House. Administration officials say the two men will discuss new steps to curb the violence, including the possible redeployment of more U.S. troops to the capital, and Bush will urge Maliki to rally Iraqis against sectarianism.

"It is one of the most serious problems that this government has to deal with," said a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record. The official said the White House remains hopeful that the fledgling government can address it: "You see its leadership is trying to come together and find tangible ways, rhetorical ways, symbolic ways of underscoring the importance of maintaining Iraq at the expense of empowering different sectarian groups."

Maliki made it clear Saturday that the Sunni Arab insurgency and sectarian violence would constitute the two leaders' main topic of discussion. "The most important file we are taking is that of security," Maliki said at a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

Maliki pointed out that his trip to the United States had been scheduled long before last week, one of the bloodiest this year in Iraq. He emphasized the importance of having more Iraqi forces take over responsibility for security, saying he and Bush will "dot the i's and cross the t's concerning building our forces."

While the administration has adopted a more cautious tone toward events in Iraq, skepticism is growing outside the White House.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met recently with Maliki in Iraq and came away unsure whether the new prime minister would crack down, as promised, on Shiite militia forces and guarantee the minority Sunni Arab community more of a stake in the government.

"I am not at all sure he is committed to a Sunni buy-in and a total purging of the military and the police of sectarian death squads," Biden said.

"It's been hard to get any traction for Maliki and the government," said Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who joined Biden in meeting with the prime minister. "There is not a lot of institutional capacity."

The administration has much invested in the success of Maliki, the first leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein who officials believe has the toughness, political savvy and broad political support to help turn the tide in Iraq.

The security plan for Baghdad was his administration's first major initiative. It imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews, a ban on guns in the streets, and more military and police patrols and checkpoints.

Moving more U.S. troops to help secure Baghdad would represent at least a temporary setback in the long-standing ambition of American commanders to withdraw from the cities, while raising again the question of whether the number of troops in Iraq is adequate.

Even while acknowledging that the initial results of the security plan have been disappointing, the senior administration official said the White House is encouraged by Maliki's efforts on other fronts, such as increasing oil production, an anti-corruption campaign, and an effort to promote more dialogue between Sunnis and Shiites. "There's been some progress," the official said.

Maliki's trip this week, which includes meetings at the White House and a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, offers an opportunity for Bush to try to show a restive American public that success is still possible despite the rising violence. It will also probably be a chance for Maliki to show some independence of Washington, given his recent sharp criticism of Israel's military operation in Lebanon, which has the White House's backing.

Maliki said Saturday that he would discuss "the aggression against Lebanon," saying, "The dangers of this aggression will reflect on the whole region . . . and I will talk to the United Nations and the United States to hasten a cease-fire."

Within Maliki's ruling coalition of Shiite religious parties, there has been sharp disagreement over whether the prime minister should be going to Washington at all. Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose militia has twice attempted uprisings against American forces in Iraq, directed part of his sermon at Friday prayers in Kufa to Maliki.

Leslie H. Gelb, a veteran foreign affairs analyst who, with Biden, has advocated a greater decentralization of political power in Iraq, said Maliki's comments about Lebanon made clear "where his basic loyalties lie" -- with the Shiite cause. "That suggests how hard it is to make a national government work," he said.

Mosher reported from Baghdad. Special correspondent Naseer Mehdawi in Baghdad contributed to this report.