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Iraqi PM Maliki Supports Barack Obama's Plan for Withdrawal

Pookster said:
McCain may get a stomach ulcer before Obama's trip is over.
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Not when Obama says stuff like even knowing what he knows now he wouldn't have supported the surge. That's just gold right there.

Petreus is on record as opposing a timetable, and a significant part of Obama's base tried to portray the man as a villain (remember that whole "General Betray-Us" mess?). Yes, Obama is finally meeting with him (something he should have done long ago, when Petreus came to Washington specifically to talk to Congress about the surge). But Obama was wrong about the surge, Petreus was right, and yet Obama still wants to basically ignore him. So I'm at a bit of a loss as to why anyone thinks that picture of the two of them together is a clear PR win for Obama.
 
Ziggurat said:
So I'm at a bit of a loss as to why anyone thinks that picture of the two of them together is a clear PR win for Obama.
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Or why anyone would think *when* things go south in Iraq because of Obama's withdrawal, he'll listen to Petraeus and the generals then. Let's just face facts. Where Iraq is concerned, Obama is stuck on stupid.
 
Ziggurat said:
Not when Obama says stuff like even knowing what he knows now
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Well, I think it's a terrific picture that has the whole McCain/Republican/Anti-Obama camp going into a major spin cycle ...


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McCain should be more careful what he recommends Obama do. ;)
 
The Washington Post's editorial page doesn't see it that way:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has a history of tailoring his public statements for political purposes, made headlines by saying he would support a withdrawal of American forces by 2010. But an Iraqi government statement made clear that Mr. Maliki's timetable would extend at least seven months beyond Mr. Obama's. More significant, it would be "a timetable which Iraqis set" -- not the Washington-imposed schedule that Mr. Obama has in mind. It would also be conditioned on the readiness of Iraqi forces, the same linkage that Gen. Petraeus seeks. As Mr. Obama put it, Mr. Maliki "wants some flexibility in terms of how that's carried out."
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Washington-imposed schedule....

:dl:

Seven whole months more...

:dl:

As Mr. Obama puts it...

:dl: :dl: :dl:

This is really cracking me up. Do you even get it? Obama has a start for negotiations. He's ready to work with Iraq and the commanders on the ground. Maliki wants the same thing, and the army goes what the CIC tells them to go. Seven whole months long... well, obviously Maliki wishes he could vote for McCain who just wants to keep playing Kick the Can/Six Months longer game.

:dl:

Hey, isn't it time to start pushing Obama's German language poster in Berlin that looks like the Hitler poster yet?
 
Texas said:
Cleon I saw those pictures posted much more often on liberal sites during the primaries than on conservative sites. Hillary was beaten on unmercifully by the liberal blogs.
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Then you must be younger than I thought. The "Hitlery" crap was most popular while Bill was in the White House. (And no, it wasn't from liberals.)

And frankly, I find it unlikely that even the most pro-Obama of bloggers would have used "Hitlery."
 
boloboffin said:
The translator of al-Maliki's comments for Der Speigel works for al-Maliki.

Wow. Just wow.
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I had no real clue what to think, and still have lots of questions.

I am beginning to think Der Spiegel isn't being completely above-board, however:

http://patterico.com/2008/07/23/der-spiegel-rewrote-the-whole-maliki-interview-of-course/

The Columbia Journalism Review has a maddeningly sloppy and incomplete, but also interesting and informative article about how the Maliki remarks came to be translated so differently by the New York Times and Der Spiegel. It turns out that, not only did Der Spiegel rewrite the critical passage without telling anyone, it also rewrote the whole interview, while pretending that it was a verbatim exchange.
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The version reviewed by Maliki prior to publication does not appear to be the one printed. . . . Or at least it can't be confirmed to be the same. And now Der Spiegel isn't releasing the tape, though they have offered to play it over the phone to reporters.

Am I wrong, or does this all seem weird? What is going on?
 
"They have to be based on conditions on the ground." Where the hell does McCain think Obama's 16-month timeframe comes from? He didn't pull it out of thin air.
 
McCain has presented his own timetables--excuse me, time horizons--during the course of the Iraq war. I guess we can now add 2009 as the next data point on the graph:
 
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