Taking Lead, Iraqi Premier Vows to Forge Government

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki sought Saturday to show he was in control of a tenuous new governing coalition, saying that he would have "the decisive word" in forming a new Iraqi government, and would move forward with or without potential allies. In his first news conference since he was formally nominated as prime minister on Thursday, Mr. Maliki also said there was no need for American troops to remain in Iraq beyond a withdrawal deadline of December 2011.



"I don't see a need for any other international forces to help Iraqis control the security situation," he said.

His remarks, which cut across a wide range of issues, reflected the splinters that remained inside Iraq's nascent partnership government, and Mr. Maliki's attempts to subdue the competing interests of political groups that have coalesced around him.

Mr. Maliki, who first took office in 2006, also seemed to bristle at criticism directed at his government from various sectors, and pointedly suggested that his critics quiet down.

"It is a democracy to speak freely, and the media speak freely, and political blocs speak freely," he said. "And maybe we have a democracy that exceeded limits."

On American troop levels, Mr. Maliki is facing pressure from the followers of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who played a critical role in supporting Mr. Maliki for a second term after last March's indecisive elections.

The Sadrists [...]