Bush reiterates support for Maliki

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush used remarks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Missouri to reiterate support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, good man with a difficult job and I support him," Bush said during the convention at Kansas City. "And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people, who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship."

It has been reported earlier that Bush's support of the prime minister was cooling; however, the White House countered the remarks were misinterpreted.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe earlier Wednesday said "our people in Baghdad" have reported that Maliki "knows where the president stands."