In other Iraq news, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has lashed out at Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin for calling for his replacement. Last week both Clinton and Levin said Maliki should be removed for failing to meet U.S. benchmarks. Maliki dismissed their comments Sunday in Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki: “I don’t agree with Hillary, but say that it seems that Mrs. Hillary and Mr. Carl (Levin) haven’t had the misfortune during their political lives of dealing with deep political disputes and problems such as those Iraq has had to deal with. Therefore, when they make judgments, they make them from a position of ignorance of what national reconciliation requires. Therefore, I excuse them and say national reconciliation is taking place, and although it might be seen as a slow process, it is fast if compared with other such processes (in other countries).”