Iraq Leader Maliki Supports Obama's Withdrawal Plans
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Barack Obama's 16 timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US 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."

Maliki was careful to back away from outright support for Obama. "Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business," he said. But then, apparently referring to Republican candidate John McCain's more open-ended Iraq policy, Maliki said: "Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems."

Iraq, Maliki went on to say, "would like to see the establishment of a long-term strategic treaty with the United States, which would govern the basic aspects of our economic and cultural relations." He also emphasized though that the security agreement between the two countries should only "remain in effect in the short term."

Maliki has long shown impatience with the open-ended presence of US troops in Iraq. In his conversation with SPIEGEL, he was once again candid about his frustration over the Bush administration's hesitancy about agreeing to a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. But he did say he was optimistic that such a schedule would be drawn up before Bush leaves the White House next January -- a confidence that appeared justified following Friday's joint announcement in Baghdad and Washington that Bush has now, for the first time, spoken of "a general time horizon" for moving US troops out of Iraq.

"So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat," Maliki told SPIEGEL. "But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias."

He also bemoaned the fact that Baghdad has little control over the US troops in Iraq. "It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population," Maliki said.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566841,00.html


BAM!

I bet the Republicans are feeling that one..

BAM, BAM!!!

Bam, Bam, is a nice way to say it. Here is another way...A “prominent Republican strategist” who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said more candidly, “We’re f@cked.”

if you keep scrolling down there is a couple more short articles that were written today.

http://thinkprogress.org/

McCain camp reacts to Maliki’s call for withdrawal: Voters don’t care what Iraqi leaders say.
other short artiles

Maliki endorses Obama’s plan for withdrawal from Iraq.

and

White House Announces ‘General Time Horizon’ For Iraq Withdrawal; Is It ‘Conceding Too Much To The Enemy?’

Bam, Bam, is a nice way to say it. Here is another way...A “prominent Republican strategist” who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said more candidly, “We’re f@cked.”


He wasnt McConfused about that. Was he???

Did you see the American troops applauding Obama today in Kuwait?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/whats-arabic-fo.html

Iraq clarifies Spiegel interview.

LMAO,
He was very clear in his statements yesterday. Probably too clear for the Bush Administartion.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566841,00.html

He is a Bush puppet though. I can imagine the private phone calls last night between Maliki and Bush!
A quick lesson in who is actually in control, and a brief lesson in the art of the republican flip-flop technique!

Maliki might be a Bush puppet to some extent but he is a far better leader than your man AL Sadr.

How do you figure?

Maliki fled to Iran and then Syria to avoid Saddam. Only returning when we defeated him.
Sadr stayed and resisted him!

Al Sadr would be the next Saddam if given the chance. Iraq doesn't need another one like that. Sadr flip flopped back and forth between supporting the coalition and attacking the coalition. In actuality he was only a local bully. The news media made him out to be some great military leader commanding a powerful militia. HOGWASH.

Did you read that update at the bottom of the link you posted....

UPDATE: I'm told that Arabic for "spin" is "faraa." I'm also told that Der Spiegel bleibt bei seiner Version (Der Spiegel is standing by its story).

the interview with Maliki
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html


Other major newspapers in Baghdad on Sunday, including the government affiliated al-Sabah, the independent daily al-Mashriq and Iraq's leading paper al-Zaman quote the SPIEGEL interview at length. There is no mention of al-Dabbagh's statement denying Maliki's support of Obama's withdrawal plans, but it may have come after the papers went to press.

With reporting by Bernard Zand in Baghdad and Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington D.C.

cgh/Reuters
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566914,00.html

I bet Bush himself was on the phone with Maliki. So al-Dabbagh was forced to put spin "faraa" on it We still heard what he said Bush.

He probably threatened to have him assasinated. OMG!

Yes, I read that but he has enough wiggle room with the translation and all to stand behind his story. Yahoo news version of the same interview seemed to me to collaborate the 16 month withdrawal timeline with the improvements on the ground and with continual improvements on the ground to be a realistic timelime.
Spiegel appears to have left such content from the interview about continual improvement out as related to the timeline.

You need to learn a little about his family, esp his father, great uncle, and grandfather.
Some of the most popular and important figures in Iraq's history.

These men who were his greatest role models before you make a uninformed assumption based merely on the Bush propaganda that you have heard!

His father- tortured and imprisoned many times eventually assassinated along with Sadr's two brothers by Saddam!
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/1803/mmsalsadr.html
When Saddam assassinated them it caused riots which almost over threw Saddam.

His great uncle- imprisoned and tortured many time eventually assassinated by Saddam! Reportedly by having a nail driven through his forehead!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Baqir_al-Sadr

And this comes two days later from the Whitehouse...when did their spokesperson become credible? All of American news broadcast are also confused by the delayed spin on translation and exactly what was not translated correctly. It appears that the Whitehouse is adding their own spin to the interview.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Saturday: "In the interview, the Prime Minister made clear that any decision will be based on continuing positive developments — as he and the president both did in their joint statement yesterday. It is our shared view that should the recent security gains continue, we will be able to meet our joint aspirational time horizons."

On Friday, the White House announced that President Bush and al-Maliki had agreed to set a "general time horizon" for bringing more U.S. troops home from the war.

Obama's Republican presidential rival, John McCain, has supported Bush administration policy opposing a set timetable for taking troops out of Iraq.

"Barack Obama advocates an unconditional withdrawal that ignores the facts on the ground and the advice of our top military commanders," McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said Saturday. "John McCain believes withdrawal must be based on conditions on the ground.

"Prime Minister Maliki has repeatedly affirmed the same view, and did so again today. Timing is not as important as whether we leave with victory and honor, which is of no apparent concern to Barack Obama," Scheunemann said in a statement.

Theirs was the original interview!!
I believe the spin was created by the Republican biased American news services, not by Spiegal.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html

What did that assesment on McConfused say? Oh yeah,

Why does John McCain think he can tell lies and get away it?

Arrogance Problem?

He thinks people are too stupid to pay attention?

Integrity Problem?

He says whatever he thinks will make a good sound bite?

Cognitive Problem?

Video; http://writechic.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/arrogance-integrity-or-cognition-whats-mccain-problem/


That could be applied to describe the entire Bush Administration.

The news cast are probably not really confused but they do have to report what they are told to report. Bush and McCain and Co. are adding their own words to the interview. Because they knew they were "f***ed"

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Saturday: "In the interview, the Prime Minister made clear that any decision will be based on continuing positive developments — as he and the president both did in their joint statement yesterday.

But Maliki was letting Bush who has repeatly and stubbonly refused to discuss a timeline know that he wants the US out as soon as possible.

Maliki: Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business. But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.

I love a good debate.

But, McConfused and the Bush foreign policy blunders are eliminating the opposition.
It's getting to easy!!!

When do we get their oil?

"In the interview, the Prime Minister made clear that any decision will be based on continuing positive development

That is what I was referring too. Spiegel deliberately left that out. So Scott Stanzel's translation of the interview collaborated what Bush and Maliki said previously the day before. The way I see it is that Maliki was saying that the 16 month timeline that Obama talks about is probably close to correct if positive developments continue. All the surge troops have already left and more will leave this fall when conditions on the ground warrant such.

Iraq does not have a Prime Minister or a government . They are America puppets put there by America for American interests including stealing the Iraqi oil .
This is reality and even the bones of Saddam can see this from the grave .