A report that the United States spied on Iraqi officials shows a lack of trust and casts a shadow over relations with US intelligence agencies, the Iraqi government said today.
The Washington Postsaid today that a book by US journalist Bob Woodward reported that the United States spied on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders.
Iraq will ask the United States for an explanation, an Iraqi government spokesman said.
"If it is true it casts a shadow on the future relations with such institutions," he said, referring to the CIA and other U.S. agencies.
The US embassy in Baghdad said it had no immediate comment on the report, detailed in Woodward's fourth book on President George W. Bush, entitled The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008.
Woodward writes that the surveillance of the Iraqi prime minister caused concern among several senior US officials, who questioned whether it was worth the risk given Mr Bush's efforts to earn Mr Maliki's trust, the Postreported.
Reuters
