The Prime Minister of Iraq, Mr Nouri al-Maliki, has told the US ambassador that he was Washington's friend but "not America's man in Iraq," ratcheting up his high-stakes and increasingly bitter dispute with the Bush administration.
The Shia leader made the declaration in a meeting yesterday with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, after which the men issued a rare joint statement declaring the need to work together to set timelines to clamp off spiraling violence attributed to Shia militias and death squads.
"I am a friend of the United States, but I am not America's man in Iraq," Hassan al-Sneid, a close al-Maliki aide, quoted him as telling Khalilzad during the meeting.
The insider's account of the session was in sharp contrast to the joint al-Maliki-Khalilzad statement that was issued both by the American Embassy and al-Maliki's office late Friday night.
The joint statement said the Iraqi leader reaffirmed his commitment to a "good and strong" relationship with the US, in what appeared to be an attempt to bring down the curtain down on a week of recriminations.
Al-Sneid said the prime minister demanded that his government be treated as an elected administration that enjoys international legitimacy, and that US forces in Iraq must coordinate better with his government.
He added that al-Maliki had repeated to Khalilzad in their meeting yesterday that the premier was reluctant to implement a timeline for tackling security issues, arguing that Iraq's security forces were not yet up to the task and requested that the United States do more to train and equip them.
The joint statement had appeared to signal that al-Maliki was backing down from his highly publicised squabble with the Bush administration and dropping his objections to a timeline proposed by Washington for bringing security to his war-ravaged nation.
The dispute has further tarnished President Bush's bid to promote policy "adjustments" in Iraq with less than two weeks left before US mid-term congressional elections.
AP