Iraqi PM hits back at US criticism

Damascus: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki hit back at US criticism of his government on Wednesday, saying nobody had the right to set timetables for progress.

The US ambassador to Baghdad had said on Tuesday Iraq had made "extremely disappointing" progress towards reconciling its warring sects, while President George W. Bush said there was "a certain level of frustration with the leadership in general".

Responding to a question about US criticism of his government, Maliki said: "The Iraqi government was elected by the Iraqi people and nobody (has the right to) put timetables ... on it," referring to conditions set by Washington for his government to achieve political reconciliation among Iraqi groups.

He was speaking at a news conference in Damascus, where he held talks on Tuesday with President Bashar Al Assad. "Maybe this person who made a statement yesterday is upset by the nature of our visit to Syria," Maliki said. He did not make clear if he was referring to the US ambassador or Bush.

"These statements do not concern us a lot. What concerns us is our democratic experiment and adhering to the constitution."