Reed said in an interview after the news conference that Mr. Bush's meeting
with Maliki is one of several apparent signals that the administration seeks
to chart a new course in Iraq. But Reed warned that the high-level meeting
may not amount to more than "a photo opportunity" unless the president
moves quickly to secure concrete results in the form of political action by
the Iraqis.

Reed and his fellow Democrats renewed their call for several specific actions that he described as ``difficult but necessary'' to create a basis for political stability among Iraq's competing ethnic and religious groups.

The letter was signed by Reed and these fellow Democrats: incoming Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, incoming Majority Whip Dick Durbin of
Illinois, incoming Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan,
and incoming Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller of West
Virginia.

Reed said during the news conference that he has believed for months that the majority of the violence in Iraq is now attributable not to such foreign terrorist groups as Al Qaeda but to the struggle among Iraqi groups for control of the country and its future. Reed says that struggle meets the "classic" definition of civil war.