Get used to seeing the Four Seasons Amman. That's the site of Thursday's breakfast and news conference for President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the U.S. networks are sending their news anchors there, ensuring massive coverage of an event that the White House has said is unlikely to produce any major announcement or development. But the White House, which is eager to show that the President is focused intently on Iraq, is welcoming the coverage.
Bush may be intently focused on Iraq, but his trip became more disastrous by the hour today. That coverage the White House wanted is filled with bad news and talk about the failures of Bush's foreign policy. The entire world got to see that the President of the United States flew half way around the world to get blown off by the Prime Minister of Iraq.
So that's the coverage the White House is getting. Take a look at what the network websites are reporting:
MSNBC headlines: Al-Maliki-Bush meeting postponed for a day: Iraqi officials then cancel three-way meeting with Jordan in surprise move
Prospects for the already-delayed meeting were put into further doubt when al-Maliki canceled a presummit dinner with Bush. But White House Spokesperson Dan Bartlett denied there was a snub, saying it was nothing more then a schedule change.
Even before the meetings began, ABC News had learned the Pentagon was considering essentially writing off Iraq's deadliest province for American forces, pulling U.S. troops out of Anbar, and moving them to fight what may be an even more difficult battle: the fight for Baghdad.
The change of plans appeared to surprise some members of the president's entourage. Boarding the motorcade for the trip to the palace, White House press secretary Tony Snow said there were still discussions about whether a photo op Wednesday night would include al-Maliki.
Probably not the coverage the White House was expecting.
