Iraq:Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki yesterday responded to critics in the US Congress, saying his government had saved Iraq from a sectarian civil war.
Mr Maliki told a news conference his critics had crossed what he called a "reasonable line" and were encouraging militants trying to destabilise Iraq.
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and other US lawmakers have called for Iraq's parliament to replace Mr Maliki, a Shia Islamist.
"They do not realise the size of the disaster that Iraq has passed through and the big role of this government, a government of national unity. The most important achievement is it stopped a sectarian and civil war," Mr Maliki said.
His comments came just over a week before US president George W Bush's top officials in Iraq present pivotal reports on the country's security and political situation.
Mr Maliki said he did not want to prejudge the testimony by US commander, Gen David Petraeus, and ambassador Ryan Crocker, which is to be delivered to Congress on September 10.
"We have to wait until we know what is written," he said.
Mr Maliki is under mounting pressure from Washington to show progress towards reconciling warring majority Shia Muslims and minority Sunni Arabs.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the bombing of a revered Shia shrine in the town of Samarra in February 2006 unleashed a wave of sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of all-out civil war.
In a report released last February, the US intelligence community concluded that key elements of Iraq's violence had risen to the level of "civil war".
The National Intelligence Estimate report had said escalating violence between Shia and Sunni Arabs met the definition for a civil war, but added the politically-charged term did not describe all the chaos in Iraq.
Ms Clinton and fellow Democrat Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate's Armed Services Committee, have called for Mr Maliki to be voted out because of his failure to find a solution to Iraq's bitter sectarian conflict.
Mr Maliki, insisting his government had been active in fostering national reconciliation, said US officials should think first before criticising his administration.
"This sends messages to the terrorists that the security situation is weak and the political situation is not strong. These are negative messages, encouraging the terrorists," he said.
Democrats in Congress have criticised Mr Bush's Iraq policy and along with some senior Republicans have called for US troops to begin pulling out as soon as possible.
The US military says attacks have fallen since 30,000 more American troops deployed under Mr Bush's plan to give Iraqi leaders "breathing space" to bridge the deep sectarian divide.
In one positive development, powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr froze for up to six months the activities of his feared Mehdi Army last Wednesday after gunbattles involving the militia in the holy Shia city of Kerbala killed dozens.
But Mr Sadr's office yesterday warned of unspecified "decisions" if the government did not conduct a fair investigation into the clashes, raising questions about the movement's commitment to the cleric's order.
Mr Maliki said an independent group would investigate the clashes.
- (Reuters)