Iraq premier Maliki says wants no second term

Washington, Jan 3: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he has no interest in a second term and wished he could be done before the end of his current term, in which rampant sectarian violence has defied hopes for unity.

Asked whether he would accept a second term, Maliki said in an interview published today by the Wall Street Journal: ''Impossible.'' ''I wish it could be done with even before the end of this term. I would like to serve my people from outside the circle of senior officials, maybe through the parliament, or through working directly with the people,'' Maliki said.

''I didn't want to take this position. I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again,'' he said. His term is intended to be four years, but it could be cut short by a power shift in parliament.

Maliki also criticized US-led multinational forces and the Iraqi army as being too slow to react to insurgents.

The interview, part of a larger article about him, was held on December 24, as US President George W Bush has been considering increasing the US troop presence in Iraq or other changes in his war strategy.

The interview was also given nearly a week before the tumultuous hanging on Saturday of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which further increased sectarian tensions.

Saddam was taunted at the gallows by supporters of a radical Shi'ite cleric and a surreptitious video was leaked.

The hanging fueled charges by minority Sunni Muslims that the execution, of a fellow Sunni was an act of retribution by majority Shi'ites.

Maliki, a Shi'ite, was sworn in in May as the head of a coalition of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, with hopes of averting a sectarian war three years after Saddam's ouster in a US-led invasion. The violence has continued, but Maliki said it had not become a civil war.

''What is happening in Iraq is a war of gangs and a terrorist war. That is why it needs to be confronted with strong force and with fast reaction,'' Maliki said.

Iraqi commanders need more authority over the counterinsurgency, he said. ''The way the Iraqi army and the multinational forces operate now is very slow in taking a decision to react. This gives the terrorists a chance to hit and run.''

REUTERS

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