Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday blasted US politicians who have called for him to be replaced and demanded that France apologise for allegedly also seeking to turf him out of office.
Maliki's outburst came after two US senators, Carl Levin and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, urged Iraqi lawmakers to choose someone else to lead Iraq's ruling coalition and seek faster national reconciliation.
Separately, in an interview with a US news magazine, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also reportedly suggested that Maliki step aside.
Their calls came amid mounting frustration with the slow pace of Maliki's attempts to reunite his war-torn country, which have so far failed to heal the deep rifts between Iraq's warring factions and communities.
"Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin are democratic people and should respect democracy. They talk about Iraq as if Iraq is their property," Maliki complained at a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
"Leaders like Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin have not experienced in their political lives the kind of differences we have in Iraq. When they give their judgment they have no knowledge of what reconciliation means," he said.
Maliki also lashed out at France, following a visit to Iraq last week by Kouchner which was initially hailed as a new chapter in relations between the two countries after a period of suspicion.
"Recently we received the French minister. We were happy with him. We were optimistic that his visit would start a new relationship," Maliki said.
"Suddenly we were surprised that the minister made a statement which can't be called in any way diplomacy, when he called for replacing the government."
Addressing France, which opposed the US-led invasion which overthrew Saddam Hussein, Maliki accused its present government of siding with former supporters of the ousted dictator.
"In the past you backed the former regime. Today we were happy with you and then you decided to support the former regime's loyalists. We demand an apology from the French government," he said.
Maliki's anger appeared to have been inspired by comments attributed to Kouchner by the US magazine Newsweek, which published an interview with the French minister on its website on August 24.
Kouchner is quoted as saying: "Many people believe the prime minister ought to be changed. I don't know if that will go through, though, because it seems (US) President (George W.) Bush is attached to Mr Maliki.
"But the government is not functioning."
Asked if there was a sentiment in Iraq that Maliki should go, Kouchner said there was and he had told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this.
"Yes. I just had Condoleezza on the phone 10 or 15 minutes ago, and I told her, 'Listen, he's got to be replaced'," he reportedly said.
Kouchner is quoted as saying that there was a lot of support among Iraqis he met for Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi to replace Maliki, and he described him as "an impressive fellow, and not only because he studied in France."
On August 22, Clinton urged the Iraqi parliament to get rid of the embattled premier after Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, earlier said following a visit to Iraq that Maliki should go.
"I share Senator Levin's hope that the Iraqi parliament will replace Prime Minister Maliki with a less divisive and more unifying figure when it returns in a few weeks," Clinton said in a statement.
Maliki responded angrily on Sunday.
"I do not agreee with Hillary Clinton. Reconciliation takes a long time but I think the political process as a democracy is happening quickly," he added.
"Since the beginning when I presented the reconciliation programme, the understanding of it has been very limited.
"(Iraqi political leaders) thought it was an invitation for supper. But it is a process," he said. "It must deal with differences we inherited from the former regime based on sectarian and politicial affiliations.
"Reconciliation takes a long time."
