Maliki Endorses Obama Plan (But For How Long?)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reportedly said the following in an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel:
Indeed, that talking point is so helpful to Obama that I suspect that, even as I write this, enormous diplomatic pressure is being exerted on Maliki by the Bush administration to walk his comment back or to at least qualify it somehow to make it seem less like an outright endorsement of Obama's plan.
This will be an interesting test of how much influence the Bush administration has over Maliki. My guesss is that the administration still has some leverage over him and that, when pushed, he'll make an effort in the coming days to distance himself from Obama's plan.
UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long. According to CNN, Maliki's spokesman is now claiming that his remarks "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately." Tellingly, though, the spokesman doesn't offer any real clarification of the initial remarks, so it's not clear what exactly was misunderstood. I suspect the answer is nothing. This subsequent statement has all the markings of something hastily thrown together to appease the Bush administration. I'd love to have been privy to some of the heated communications that took place between the White House and Maliki's office this afternoon. Needless to say, it's more than a little unseemly for our government to be putting diplomatic pressure on the Iraqi government in order to get them to say things solely intended to influence a domestic political election. Then again, this is an administration that has no shame at all, so this is hardly a shocking development.
"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."That quote, at least for now, provides a golden talking point for the Obama campaign. Obama's plan, after all, has been widely ridiculed and criticized by John McCain and the GOP as reckless, irresponsible, and not reflective of the facts on the ground in Iraq. What better retort is there than pointing out that the plan enjoys the support of the Iraqi Prime Minister?
Indeed, that talking point is so helpful to Obama that I suspect that, even as I write this, enormous diplomatic pressure is being exerted on Maliki by the Bush administration to walk his comment back or to at least qualify it somehow to make it seem less like an outright endorsement of Obama's plan.
This will be an interesting test of how much influence the Bush administration has over Maliki. My guesss is that the administration still has some leverage over him and that, when pushed, he'll make an effort in the coming days to distance himself from Obama's plan.
UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long. According to CNN, Maliki's spokesman is now claiming that his remarks "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately." Tellingly, though, the spokesman doesn't offer any real clarification of the initial remarks, so it's not clear what exactly was misunderstood. I suspect the answer is nothing. This subsequent statement has all the markings of something hastily thrown together to appease the Bush administration. I'd love to have been privy to some of the heated communications that took place between the White House and Maliki's office this afternoon. Needless to say, it's more than a little unseemly for our government to be putting diplomatic pressure on the Iraqi government in order to get them to say things solely intended to influence a domestic political election. Then again, this is an administration that has no shame at all, so this is hardly a shocking development.
posted by A.L. at 11:49 AM
10 Comments:
Excellent post. It will be interesting to see how long it takes.
There has to be an urgency for the administration to deal with this prior to the media frenzy of Obama's Iraq arrival.
Will the GOP talking points be in place in time for the Beltway message massage on the Sunday morning talk shows?
expect to see Bush/McCain pivot just as they did on the issue of talking with Iran.
How much leverage can they have over Maliki? Bush is only going to be in office 6 more months. Also, the trend here has been for Maliki to get closer and closer to Obama's position over the last week or so despite pressure from Bush--he hasn't been backing away, he's been more or less moving steadily toward Obama despite whatever pressure is being applied. My other question is: why isn't the Obama campaign making a MUCH bigger deal about this? They always seem to be slow to capitalize on these opportunities. Irritating.
I think the Bush administration has less control over Maliki than they might suppose. He's got Iran solidly behind him. By this move he gets in solid with the next administration (see last paragraph for an explanation of this.)
If the administration couldn't get him to sign up for their "long-term occupation" agreement, which they want above all else (to guarantee the oil deals with American companies) then he's simply out of control.
As to my assertion that Obama will the the next president: not understanding how truly irrational the American electorate is, McCain has to be seen as having no chance. Maliki is merely being rational to throw his lot in with Obama. Mind you, I'm not saying Obama is certain to win -- I'm saying from the standpoint of an external analyst, unfamiliar with the way American elections work, it would look to be a sure bet.
This should lead to extensive coverage.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/19/141354/208/337/553922
Now what are the Right Wing media which are surely included going to do?
The take will have to be that only because McCain was right about Iraq could this happen now and Obama is being a political opportunist for taking credit for it.
Given the stupidity and pliancy of the MSM, I predict the story will evolve into: Is the Prime Minister of Iraq attempting to improperly influence the U.S. presidential election? Will Obama reject AND denounce this endorsement?
Then again, this is an administration that has no shame at all, so this is hardly a shocking development.
Whenever someone mentions the Maladministration's total lack of shame, I think back to John Roger's L33T Justice entry on his blog where he puts forth the theory that lack of shame is and "exploit" that lets the Bushies get away with murder.
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2007/07/l33t-justice.html
It's worth reading.
The beauty is that the retraction of Maliki's statement was not put out by the Iraqi government, but by the U.S. Central Command press office. Not only does that call the retraction into question, but it also smells like the U.S. military illegally interfering in U.S. political affairs.
From the New York Times report of Obama's meeting with Iraqi officials:
"Mr. Obama met with Mr. Maliki; the United States ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker; the Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and other Iraqi officials at the prime minister’s residence in the Green Zone.
Mr. Obama described his talk with Mr. Maliki as “a wonderful visit,” but news agencies reported that a government spokesman said that they did not discuss the timing of any troop withdrawal. However, the spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, addressed the issue. According to Reuters, he said, “We cannot give any timetables or dates but the Iraqi government believes the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal.” The Associated Press quoted Mr. Dabbagh as saying, “We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq,” but noting that any plans would have to change should violence rise."
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