Iraq's prime minister, president in public quarrel

The quarrel is the latest in a series of political setbacks that underline enduring rivalries between Iraq's political factions as the country struggles to find its footing after years of brutal violence.

The dispute between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Talabani's two deputies comes with Iraqis already polarized by a proposed security agreement with the United States that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years.

Groups opposed to the pact say it enshrines what they see as Iraq's occupation. Proponents, like al-Maliki, say it is the only viable way for Iraq to regain its full sovereignty by 2012.

At the center of the new dispute between al-Maliki and Talabani are the "support councils" made up of pro-government tribesmen that began to spring up earlier this year when the prime minister took charge of military operations against Shiite militias in southern Iraq.

The councils were seen by many as an attempt by the prime minister ahead of Jan. 31 provincial elections to create a support base in areas where his Shiite rivals dominate or, in Sunni areas, to counter the weight of U.S.-backed groups made up of tribesmen and former insurgents.

Al-Maliki has said the councils are needed as a backup for official security forces--similar to the Sunni groups that joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

But Talabani's office disagrees. In a letter to al-Maliki dated Nov. 18 and issued late Friday after al-Maliki made their quarrel public, the presidential council said the resources being funneled to the councils would be better used to bolster Iraq's security forces.

"It is our constitutional duty to demand that you intervene and order the relevant authorities to suspend the work of these councils until we arrive at an agreement that provides them with legal and administrative cover," according to the letter.

Al-Maliki did not specifically mention that letter in his televised news conference on Thursday. But he said Talabani and his two deputies were picking on the support councils while ignoring what he said was a long list of constitutional violations by the self-rule Kurdish region government in northern Iraq.