IRAQ:Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki reacted sharply yesterday to US criticism of his government's slow progress toward reconciliation, and US president George Bush, after earlier lukewarm comments, restated his support for Mr Maliki.
US officials this week voiced increasing frustration with Mr Maliki's failure to advance political reform despite an increase in the number of US troops to give breathing room to his fractured Shia-led coalition.
Mr Bush, speaking in Canada on Tuesday, noted "a certain level of frustration with the leadership" and failed to offer a direct endorsement of Mr Maliki. Earlier in the day, US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the Maliki government's progress toward reconciliation was "extremely disappointing". Mr Maliki hit back during a visit to Damascus, saying no one outside Iraq had the right to set timetables for progress.
Yesterday Mr Bush said in a speech in Kansas City, Missouri: "Prime minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man, with a difficult job and I support him."
As the diplomatic heat rose, violence in Iraq continued. A suicide bomber killed 35 people, including 15 policemen, and wounded 73 in an attack on a police headquarters in Baiji.
Fourteen US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in northern Iraq blamed on mechanical failure. It is the worst incident of its kind since January 2005.
The Bush administration is pushing for reconciliation between Iraq's warring Shia Muslim majority and minority Sunni Muslim Arabs so it can start bringing troops home from an unpopular war. Mr Crocker and the commander of the US forces in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, are due to deliver a progress report next month that could signal a change in US policy in Iraq.
Mr Maliki's response to the criticism was blunt. "The Iraqi government was elected by the Iraqi people," he said in the Syrian capital.
"Maybe this person who made a statement yesterday is upset by the nature of our visit to Syria," Mr Maliki said, without making clear if he was referring to Mr Bush or Mr Crocker. "These statements do not concern us a lot," Mr Maliki said. "We will find many around the world who will support us in our endeavour." Iraq and the US accuse Syria of not doing enough to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq through its porous borders.
Reporting on the helicopter crash, a US military statement said initial indications suggested the Black Hawk, one of two involved in night operations, had suffered mechanical failure. It was the second incident of its kind in eight days.
"There were no indications of hostile fire," it said. "That helicopter had been carrying four crew members and 10 passengers." The deaths take to 3,721 the number of US military killed since the 2003 invasion.
In Baiji, police had just moved into new headquarters, situated among shops and houses, after a previous attack on their old building in June killed 27 people, including 13 policemen. Abdul Rahman Mahmoud, a 22-year-old college student, said many of the victims were from a local education ministry office next door to the police directorate.
Iraqi interior ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said Iraqi security forces had killed 56 suspected al-Qaeda members during an operation in Fadhil, a notorious insurgency stronghold in central Baghdad, on Tuesday.