White House acknowledges Maliki's concerns

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) The White House today said it shares Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's concerns about civilian deaths in Iraq allegedly by U.S. Marines and emphasized Washington wants to work with him.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said of the United States and Iraq that ''it's safe to say that both sides believe in trying to maintain military discipline and also a respect for the rights of civilians.'' Maliki said today the Iraqi government will demand the United States share files from the investigation of the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November. On Thursday he decried the deaths as ''a terrible crime where women and children were eliminated.'' Maliki was quoted in The New York Times as saying: ''They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion ... This is completely unacceptable.'' President George W. Bush has praised Maliki as a someone with whom the United States wants to have a close working relationship and the White House sought ease concerns about a rift.

''The prime minister is clearly somebody who is eager to take on the responsibilities of providing for the safety and security of the Iraqi people,'' Snow said. ''And we look forward to working with him.'' He said the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the top US commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, met Maliki in Baghdad on Friday and promised to keep him informed of the results of investigations into the Haditha deaths.

He also said Maliki ''got the full assurances from Gen.

Casey that he will be given all the evidence and all the materials available so he will know what's going on.'' He also said Khalilzad had asked Maliki about his yesterday's comments and that Maliki had told him he had been misquoted.

But, peppered with questions about it from reporters, Snow had no details on exactly what comments Maliki was said to have been disavowing.

''I'm trying my best to be your advocate on this one,'' Snow told reporters. ''But I did not have a direct conversation with the prime minister.'' Bush has been briefed on the Haditha killings as well as the April 26 killing of an Iraqi man in the town of Hamandiya.

US officials said today that an investigation had exonerated American forces in the deaths of civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi.

The White House carefully avoided commenting on the incidents themselves, saying it was important not to be making statements that later could be seen as prejudicial to the legal proceedings.

Bush has said twice this week that he was troubled by the Haditha allegations and pledged they will be investigated fully.

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