Iraqi PM hits back at Hillary Clinton
Nouri Maliki
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Sunday, 26, Aug 2007 04:24
Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki has hit out at US senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin after comments regarding the Iraqi politician's future.
Ms Clinton supported comments made by Democratic senator Carl Levin that appeared to suggest Mr Maliki should be replaced as prime minister.
"I share Senator Levin's hope that the Iraqi parliament will replace prime minister Maliki with a less divisive and more unifying figure when it returns in a few weeks," she said in a statement.
According to the Reuters news agency, Mr Maliki rebuffed these comments and added that the Democratic senators were treating Iraq like "one of their villages".
"This is severe interference in our domestic affairs. Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton are from the Democratic Party and they must demonstrate democracy," he said.
"I ask them to come back to their senses and to talk in a respectful way about Iraq."
The Iraqi prime minister is under increased pressure from Washington to improve the security situation in Iraq and appease tensions between warring parties.
Mr Maliki's Shia Muslim majority has so far disappointed the US in forming ties with the Sunni minority in Iraq.
President George Bush appeared to add his weight to the criticisms, but then made a swift u-turn in a speech to veterans in Kansas City last week, calling the prime minister a "good guy" doing a "difficult job".