No second term for me, says Maliki

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he has no interest in a second term and wished he could be done before the end of his current term...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he has no interest in a second term and wished he could be done before the end of his current term, in which rampant sectarian violence has defied hopes for unity.

Asked whether he would accept a second term, Maliki said in an interview published on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal: 8220;Impossible.8221;

8220;I wish it could be done with even before the end of this term. I would like to serve my people from outside the circle of senior officials, maybe through the parliament, or through working directly with the people,8221; Maliki said.

8220;I didn8217;t want to take this position. I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again,8221; he said. His term is intended to be four years, but it could be cut short by a power shift in parliament.

Maliki also criticised US-led multinational forces and the Iraqi army as being too slow to react to insurgents.

The interview, part of a larger article about him, was held on December 24, as US President George W Bush has been considering increasing the US troop presence in Iraq or other changes in his war strategy.

The interview was also given nearly a week before the tumultuous hanging on Saturday of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which further increased sectarian tensions.

Saddam was taunted at the gallows by supporters

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of a radical Shi8217;ite cleric and a surreptitious video was leaked. The hanging fueled charges by minority Sunni Muslims that the execution of a fellow Sunni was an act of retribution by majority Shi8217;ites.

Maliki, a Shi8217;ite, was sworn in in May as the head of a coalition of Shi8217;ites, Sunnis and Kurds, with hopes of averting a sectarian war three years after Saddam8217;s ouster in a US-led invasion. The violence has continued, but Maliki said it had not become a civil war.

8220;What is happening in Iraq is a war of gangs and a terrorist war. That is why it needs to be confronted with strong force and with fast reaction,8221; Maliki said.

Iraqi commanders need more authority over the counterinsurgency, he said. 8220;The way the Iraqi army and the multinational forces operate now is slow in taking a decision to react. This gives the terrorists a chance to hit and run.8221;