The address of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to a joint session of Congress yesterday put the GOP leaders in a bicameral bind. Just how do you welcome a leader you want to support who is reluctant to denounce Hezbollah — whose kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers triggered the fighting in Lebanon and Israel — and whose statements are contrary to U.S. policy?

Al-Maliki’s two-day visit to Washington, his first as the newly elected leader of Iraq, comes as violence in Iraq is raging and hundreds of Iraqis are being killed each week.

Al-Maliki, the nation’s first democratically elected leader, needs U.S. military support to stay in power. The United States needs a strong al-Maliki government so that U.S. troops can come home.

Before arriving in Washington this week, al-Maliki was quoted as declining to condemn Hezbollah and blamed the violence in Israel and Lebanon, triggered by Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, on “Israeli aggression.” Making matters worse, Iraqi parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani accused Jews of masterminding killings in Iraq that were carried out by Sunni or Shiite insurgents.

Leading the drive to disinvite al-Maliki were House Democratic leaders Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Rahm Emanuel, both of Illinois. Schakowsky and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) had a few days earlier circulated a letter protesting al-Mashhadani’s outrageous assertions.

News about the drive to cancel al-Maliki’s address broke late Monday. When I asked for comment from House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) for my Chicago Sun-Times column that ran Tuesday, his office referred me to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the only Jewish Republican in the House. By Tuesday morning, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean was telling ABC’s The Note that Emanuel, the chief of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was making a political play.

Within a few hours, however, the potential for a problem grew. Al-Maliki sidestepped a question about Hezbollah at a joint press conference with President Bush on Tuesday.

Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) did not want the fighting in Israel and Lebanon to overshadow the al-Maliki visit.

“We need to have the dialogue,” Hastert said.

Said Frist to CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien about al-Maliki, “He has made some comments in the past that I don’t think are balanced in terms of the crisis that is going on outside of Iraq, that is, instigated by Hezbollah in that border of Lebanon and Israel. So we will talk about that, but that is not the purpose of his being here.”

Because of the protests started by Emanuel and Schakowsky, there was pressure on the leaders to raise these matters with al-Maliki during a breakfast yesterday morning.

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that in a closed meeting with al-Maliki he “disavowed the recent irresponsible remarks of the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament.”

• Hastert hustle. Hastert headlined the big ROMP IV event last week for top-tier candidates and was the draw in D.C. in recent days for a reception to benefit Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Minnesota GOP candidate Michele Bachmann. He was scheduled Tuesday to attend a funder to benefit the Illinois Republican state Senate candidates.

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it