Iraq PM says he's not America's man,US PRESIDENT George Bush has had a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki after days of angry comments by Iraqi leaders about what they regard as US meddling.

According to an aide to Mr Maliki, the Iraqi leader said that he was "a friend of the United States but not America's man in Iraq".

The remarks appear to be part of a growing schism between the Iraqi Government and its US supporters.

Iraqi leaders say that the US has been too meddlesome and that they would not be swayed by US pressure over how to conduct internal affairs.

Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, who sat in on the talks, said that during the session Mr Maliki made "no demands, and it was a very cordial discussion".

But it was also one in which the Prime Minister, he said, made it clear that he wanted to move quickly towards "an Iraqi assumption of command and control" over the forces operating in Baghdad and elsewhere.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr Maliki said: "I am now Prime Minister and overall commander of the armed forces, yet I cannot move a single company without coalition approval because of the UN mandate. If anyone is responsible for the poor security situation in Iraq it is the coalition."

NEW YORK TIMES