Iraqi prime minister: 'I'm not America's man'

Story Highlights

• White House says no strain in relations with Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki
• Bush, al-Maliki speak via video conference on economy, training Iraqi forces
• Aide says al-Maliki told U.S. diplomat: "I am not America's man in Iraq"
• Violence in Iraq Saturday kills at least three people, wounds scores more

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday referred to the boundary between himself and the United States, telling U.S. President Bush that he answers first to the Iraqi government and people, according to an Iraqi official.

The clarification first came up Friday during a private meeting between al-Maliki and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, according to an Iraqi parliament member who is also al-Maliki's senior aide.

"I consider myself a friend of the U.S., but I'm not America's man in Iraq," al-Maliki told the U.S. ambassador, according to Hassan al-Seneid.

The prime minister told Khalilzad that as head of a national unity government, he must win the approval of Iraq's parliament before acting on any proposals, al-Seneid said.

Al-Maliki repeated the message to Bush during a video conference Saturday, in which the two leaders discussed transferring power to Iraqi forces, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said. (Watch Bush at conference with al-Maliki -- 2:18)

White House spokesman Tony Snow agreed with al-Maliki's stance. "He's not America's man in Iraq," The Associated Press quoted Snow as saying. "The United States is there in a role to assist him. He's the prime minister -- he's the leader of the Iraqi people. He is, in fact, the sovereign leader of Iraq."

"There are no strains in the relationship," Snow added, according to AP.

Bush and al-Maliki agreed on three goals during their 50-minute talk: accelerating the training of Iraqi security forces; eventual control by Iraq of its forces, and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqi government.

Absent among those goals was the dismantling of militias, which have been blamed for leading death squads and sectarian vendettas against Iraqi civilians.

On Saturday, Iraqi authorities found the bodies of 25 people across Baghdad -- all believed to be the victims of Sunni-Shiite violence. Some, with hands and feet bound, showed signs of torture, police said.

Al-Maliki has been critical of the setting of timelines and the U.S. military effort, particularly a raid in Baghdad's Sadr City to detain a death squad leader this week.

Bush and al-Maliki agreed to form "a high level working group to put forward recommendations on how to reach those goals," according to their joint statement. The group would include Iraq's national security adviser, ministers of defense and interior, U.S. Gen. George Casey and Khalilzad, the statement added.

Women's rights leader killed

Violence in Iraq killed at least three people and wounded scores more on Saturday.

Police were also investigating the killing of a women's rights leader in Iraq.

Gunmen reportedly stormed Faliha Ahmed Hassan's house in Hawija, about 43 miles southwest of Kirkuk, and shot her to death on Friday evening.

Also in Hawija, gunmen on Saturday morning killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded three others in an attack on a joint Iraqi army and police patrol, a Kirkuk police official said.

Iraqi security forces were also targeted in eastern Baghdad. A roadside bomb wounded two Iraqi police officers in charge of guarding an oil industry facility Saturday morning, an Iraqi police spokesman said.

Also in eastern Baghdad, a bomb planted in a parked minibus exploded on Palestine Street, killing a civilian and wounding eight others, Iraqi emergency police said.

In a separate attack in the southern neighborhood of Dora, eight mortars exploded at a bus station, killing a civilian and wounding 30 others, Iraqi emergency police said.

And, in what has become a common occurrence, Iraq police found 10 bullet-riddled bodies thought to belong to victims of Sunni-Shiite sectarian vendettas.

West of the capital in Anbar province, a U.S. Marine with the Regimental Combat Team 5 died Friday after being wounded in battle, the U.S. military said Saturday.

The U.S. military death toll for the war is 2,811. So far this month, 98 troops have died. The deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq was November 2004, with 137 killed.

Other developments

The Iraqi Army has captured the cameraman for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defense said Saturday. During the capture of Khaled al-Khayyali, documents and tapes were seized that detailed past crimes committed by al-Zarqawi, operations that had been carried out and more operations that were planned, said spokesman Mohammed al-Askari. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed a terrorist suspect and detained 10 Iraqis believed responsible "for the movement of foreign fighters" into the country during a raid south of Baghdad on Saturday morning, the U.S. military said. The raid was part of an effort to cut back on the number of car bombs and roadside attacks on the military there, the military added.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.