'I'm not America's man in Iraq', says Maliki

Hassen Sunaid, a senior Maliki adviser who talked to him immediately after Friday's meeting with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said Maliki would talk by video link to US President George W Bush at 2.00pm (1100 GMT) yesterday.

Maliki fell out publicly with his main ally this week after US officials appeared to try to bump him into accepting a timetable of political reforms designed to placate Iraq's warring parties and end a sectarian war.

The furious Iraqi leader insisted that no outside power could determine the agenda of his government, despite the two countries' agreeing over the broad outlines of a plan to disarm illegal militias and kickstart a peace process.

The prime minister met Khalilzad on Friday and the pair later released a rare joint statement which tried to paper over the cracks in their alliance, but not before Maliki had spoken firmly to the US envoy.