BAGHDAD – Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister on Sunday lashed out at Democrats who have called for his ouster, saying Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Carl Levin need to “come to their senses.”

Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting to hold his government together, issued a series of stinging ripostes against a variety of foreign officials who recently have spoken negatively about his leadership.

But those directed at Democrats Clinton, of New York, and Levin, of Michigan, were the most strident.

“There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses,” al-Maliki said at a news conference.

Al-Maliki launched the verbal counteroffensive in the final days before the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due in Washington to report to Congress on progress in Iraq since the introduction of 30,000 more America troops.

The Shiite prime minister said a negative report by Petraeus would not cause him to change course, although he said he expected that the U.S. general would “be supportive of the government and will disappoint the politicians who are relying on it” to be negative.

Al-Maliki appeared stung by the recent series of critical statements about his government, including one from President Bush, who said he was frustrated that al-Maliki had failed to make progress on political benchmarks. Crocker has said the lack of movement had been “highly disappointing.”

Based on the sacrifices of U.S. troops, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., agreed that the U.S. government should demand more.

“I think we have a right to be critical of a government that is not doing what a government must do: protect its own people, make difficult decisions that in the long run provide for the safety and security of the Iraqi people,” Reed said. “I think the criticism is fair.”

Last week Sen. John Warner, R-Va.,said the United States should order a token withdrawal of forces by Christmas. The former chairman of the Armed Services Committee said such a move would show al-Maliki that Washington was serious about progress on reconciliation among the country’s religious sects and ethnic groups.

Warner and Levin traveled to Iraq together earlier this month as part of the multitude of congressional delegations who are visiting the country before the expected heated debate on Capitol Hill about U.S. troop levels and plans for a withdrawal.

Separately, Jabar Yawer, spokesman for the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, said two police vehicles were destroyed in the airstrike 65 miles northeast of Baghdad.

“We demand American troops to give an explanation for the U.S. airstrike against a police station,” the Kurdish Interior Minister said in a statement. “The U.S. troops should take care to understand what troops are deployed in the border areas.”