Saturday, July 19, 2008

Obama Shakes Up Iraq Policy

Senator Obama has manged to change the Iraq Policy without even securing the Democratic Nomination yet. In Interview conducted by Mathias Müller von Blumencron and Bernard Zand in Baghdad for SPIEGEL Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister all but endorsed a 16 month time table for withdrawing the U.S. Troops from Iraq. al-Maliki went so far as to say, "US presidential candidate Barrack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." Later he disclaimed that he had any preference for either U.S. Presidential Candidate. The implications of the comments throughout the interview are that the Iraqi Government feels that the occupation should end sooner rather than later.

This is diametrically opposed to the policies of the White House. It has been reported that the Bush Administration is trying to sign an agreement that would leave permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq, even though in the SPIEGEL interview Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said "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," That's exactly what what the Republicans, the White House, the McCain Campaign and the right wing main stream media having been telling the American People. In the Interview The Prime Minister is also very blunt about the fact that his Government has no control over what the American Military does in his Country. "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,"

The White House and the McCain Campaign has some explaining to do. They must tell the American People just the opposite of what the Prime Minister of Iraq tells a foreign press. The way they will explain it will be to pressure the Prime Minister into explaining some of his statements as bad translations, either that or The Prime Minister seems to believe that his Government is very capable of running their own Country, thank you very much. It appears that the Iraqi Government is not at all concerned about having Security problems if the U.S. Troops withdrew from the occupation of his Country.

History works in strange ways. Thinking that it would be a perceived negative, Senator McCain decided to chide Senator Obama unto vi sting Iraq. Obama complies, McCain and the Bush Administration now look foolish not only by the Comments of the Prime Minister but also by the way that Senator Obama was received by the troops and how he was able to interact and even play basketball with them. Senator Obama's visit will finally open up the National Debate about the Iraq Policy of the Republicans and how it contradicts with the wishes of the Iraqi People as well as the American People.

73% of Americans oppose the Iraq occupation, the Vice President was told in a Network Interview, to which he responded "So". Is this what the Republican Bush/Cheney Policy supported by Mr. McCain has been? Have the Iraqi Officials been telling this Bush Administration that that want the occupation to end soon, and has the Bush Administration been responding with, "So."

As the spin comes out trying to convince the American People that the Prime Minister did not really mean that he wanted the U.S.Troops out of his Country remember this quote, " Maliki: Iraq can learn from Germany's experiences, but the situation is not truly comparable. Back then Germany waged a war that changed the world. Today, we in Iraq want to establish a time frame for the withdrawal of international troops -- and it should be short. At the same time, we 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. However, I wish to re-emphasize that our security agreement should remain in effect in the short term."
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