BAGHDAD, April 24 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is losing support among some of Iraq's top lawmakers seeking to reconcile warring factions.
"He is a weak prime minister," Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator who used to support Maliki, told USA Today. "This government hasn't delivered and is not capable of doing the job. They should resign."
Several lawmakers told USA Today that the prime minister isn't capable of steering through legislation that would calm tensions between Sunni and Shiite factions.
"The present government is not competent," Qasim Dawood, a Shiite legislator and a member of Maliki's coalition told the newspaper. "It's more or less paralyzed, inactive. I doubt very much that this government can continue in power much longer."
Maliki was losing support in his country as Democrats in the U.S. Congress agreed to a legislative plan that would tie U.S. troop withdrawal to progress on reconciliation initiatives by the Iraqi government. U.S. President George Bush is expected to veto that bill when it is approved.
