BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki warned the Bush administration after talks with longtime U.S. adversaries in Syria on Wednesday that Iraq "can find friends elsewhere" if Washington doesn't like how he runs his country.
Maliki's defiant rhetoric followed criticism from the White House and congressional leaders in recent days of his efforts to unite his Cabinet and improve stability, which would permit a reduction in the number of U.S. troops here.
Together with his recent overtures to Iran and Syria, Maliki's words raised questions about his diplomatic priorities and sensitivity to U.S. concerns about two neighboring countries Washington accuses of supporting terrorism.
"No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people," Maliki said at a news conference in Damascus, the Syrian capital, where he is on a three-day visit. "Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution, and can find friends elsewhere."
Maliki said the criticism was motivated by U.S. electoral politics.
In a speech Wednesday to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Mo., President Bush sought to cast the Iraq war in historical terms. When the U.S. persevered, as it did in the war against Japan and in the Korean conflict, Bush said, the result was democracy and prosperity. But when it withdrew, as it did in Vietnam, he said, it led to catastrophic violence.
"Prevailing in this struggle is essential to our future as a nation," he said.
Analysts said they doubted that the criticism of Maliki indicated that Washington was engaged in a serious effort to remove him because that would lead to more months of political wrangling in Baghdad. More likely, they said, the administration was preparing the American public for a disappointing report next month on progress in Iraq.
Washington has severely strained relations with Syria and Iran -- where Maliki paid an official visit this month. While U.S. officials have put a positive spin on his Syria trip as a necessary nurturing of regional relations, Washington has accused Damascus of looking the other way as weapons and militants flooded across the border into Iraq.
Syrian and Iranian leaders used Maliki's visits to demand that Iraq set a timetable for U.S. forces to withdraw, and to blame the American presence here for drawing in foreign militants and destabilizing the region.
