Iraq:The US military yesterday dismissed reports that the top US general in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, had a stormy relationship with Iraq's prime minister, but said the pair had "very frank talks".
Tensions have surfaced between prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and US officials as he comes under increasing pressure from Washington to speed up passage of legislation seen as crucial to easing violence between the country's Shia and Sunni Arabs.
But a British newspaper reported on Saturday that the situation had got so bad that Mr al-Maliki had asked President George Bush to remove Gen Petraeus, who is directing Mr Bush's new counter-insurgency strategy.
"This is a totally fabricated story," said Gen Petraeus's spokesman, Col Steve Boylan. "They have very frank, open, and perhaps direct conversations and continue to do so. Based on what is at stake here, that is what is needed and it should be expected that both are able to have very open and frank dialogue," he said.
The Daily Telegraphcharacterised the relationship between the two as stormy and said they had frequent shouting matches.
"I can't deal with you anymore. I will ask for someone else to replace you," Mr Maliki told Gen Petraeus at one meeting, it said.
A senior adviser to Mr Maliki, Sadiq al-Rikabi, also dismissed the allegations as untrue.
"I asked him personally yesterday whether there was a problem between him and Gen Petraeus and he told me there were no problems whatsoever."
He said there had been tensions over the US military's recruitment of Sunni Arab tribal police to fight al-Qaeda, but said agreement had since been reached to form an Iraqi government committee to vet the recruits.
A US embassy spokesman said he had no comment on the report but pointed to an interview given by US ambassador Ryan Crocker this week in which he said: "There is no leader in the world that is under more pressure than Nuri al-Maliki.
"I have great admiration for prime minister Maliki and I know Gen Petraeus does as well.
"I would like to think it is reciprocated."
- (Reuters)