Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki responded violently to the US and French officials’ suggestions to resign, claiming that the US forces are oblivious of civilian care in their search for insurgents.

It seems that both allies and opponents have reached consensus regarding one matter: Maliki failed to reach reconciliation in his Cabinet, thus quintessential programs and laws falling behind. On Sunday new criticism was drawn from two influential Republican senators.

After meeting with other Iraqi leaders, Maliki called hastily a news conference thus objecting to foreign demands for his stepping aside, considering them as “an ugly interference” in Iraqi internal affairs. He focused his angry remarks mostly on Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and her fellow Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan : “There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses.”

The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner wasn’t eluded in Maliki’s lashing out. After his first visit in Baghdad, Kouchner suggested in an interview for Newsweek magazine's website that it would be better if Maliki let his place for someone more efficient in the endeavor to reach Iraqi reconciliation, alluding to Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, calling him “impressive”. Maliki accused the French diplomat’s suggestion, saying that his request “cannot in any way be called diplomacy.”

In an attempt to unite the cabinet, PM Maliki met on Sunday with fellow Shiite Abdul Mehdi, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq Hashimi and the country's top Kurdish leaders, President Jalal Talabani and Mahmoud Barzani, who heads the quasi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The meeting appears to have been prolific, the leaders stating that they have reached accord in sensitive issues like constitutional revisions to allow greater regional power, reintegration of ousted members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and laws regulating oil, gas and water resources.

Though not meeting any of the benchmarks that the US stated to be indicators of Iraq’s evolution to self-sufficiency, Maliki expects that the next month’s progressive report to be “supportive of the government”. The report will be presented to the Congress by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, revealing the logic of maintaining almost 162,000 US troops in Iraq.

Two influential Republicans, Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vote for US troops withdrawal, blaming the present Iraqi government’s inefficiency in curbing militia frictions and in increasing security. “I don't say that as a threat, but I say that is an option we all have to consider," Warner told the NBC's “Meet the Press”.