Maliki's Obama Endorsement by Tom Hayden

Maliki's Obama Endorsement
by Tom Hayden
The Nation
July 19, 2008

In a stunning diplomatic breakthrough for Barack Obama, Iraq's Prime Minister has endorsed the Democratic candidate's sixteen-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops for Iraq.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki endorsed the Obama approach in a July 19 interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, just as President Bush and Senator John McCain were touting a vague new commitment to an unspecified "horizon" for withdrawal. The New York Times did not report the Maliki statement in its July 19 edition.

But as Obama's plane touched down in Afghanistan, Maliki's comments were having a far-reaching effect on the war and presidential politics, with the Maliki government withdrawing from George Bush and making McCain appear foolish.

Here is Maliki's statement, delivered as Obama's visit to the region was beginning:

"Whoever is thinking about the shorter term is closer to reality. Artificially extending the stay of U.S. troops would cause problems... As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned... 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. 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."

Please read the entire article at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/hayden

Der Spiegel Stands By Maliki Interview
Refutes Iraqi Gov’t Statement Released By U.S. Military Claiming Prime Minister Does Not Endorse Obama Withdrawal Timetable

(CBS/AP) A German magazine which published an interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stating his support for presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposed 16-month timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq is standing by its interview, despite statements issued by an al-Maliki spokesman claiming he was "mistranslated."

Ali al-Dabbagh, the chief spokesman for al-Maliki, said in a statement Sunday that the prime minister's comments were "not conveyed accurately" by Der Spiegel.

Today Der Spiegel said it was standing by the accuracy of its interview.

"A Baghdad government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a statement that SPIEGEL had 'misunderstood and mistranslated' the Iraqi prime minister, but didn't point to where the misunderstanding or mistranslation might have occurred," the magazine said, which also noted that several media organizations, including CBS, had pointed out the confusion or tepidness of the spokesman's rebuttal.

"SPIEGEL sticks to its version of the conversation," it said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/20/iraq/main4275953.shtml

acknowledging when Obama does something he agrees with.

"The Iraqi spokesman's statement was released not by the Iraqi government but by the U.S. military’s Central Command press office in Baghdad."

What? I think we can assume it was the U.S. Military press office that wrote the "correction" statement for the "Iraqi spokesman".

The Iraqi government doesn't have it's own press office?