In a new book, Woodward quotes unnamed sources as saying U.S. spies "know everything" that Maliki says through electronic eavesdropping. If true, Iraqi government officials said, that would "cast a shadow" on the country's relations with the U.S., The Times of London reported.

"If it is true, if it is a fact, it reflects that there is no trust and it reflects also that the institutions in the United States are used to spy on their friends and their enemies in the same way," government spokesman Ali Dabbagh told the newspaper.

Woodward's book, "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," also quotes those who allege that last year's U.S. troop "surge" in Baghdad was not as responsible for the drop in violence there as much as unnamed "groundbreaking" new covert techniques that have succeeded in eliminating al-Qaida In Iraq leaders, The Times said.