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HowardRoark
09-15-2008, 12:11 PM
OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS' IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

September 15, 2008

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says.

Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

Obama has made many contradictory statements with regard to Iraq. His latest position is that US combat troops should be out by 2010. Yet his effort to delay an agreement would make that withdrawal deadline impossible to meet.

Supposing he wins, Obama's administration wouldn't be fully operational before February - and naming a new ambassador to Baghdad and forming a new negotiation team might take longer still.

By then, Iraq will be in the throes of its own campaign season. Judging by the past two elections, forming a new coalition government may then take three months. So the Iraqi negotiating team might not be in place until next June.

Then, judging by how long the current talks have taken, restarting the process from scratch would leave the two sides needing at least six months to come up with a draft accord. That puts us at May 2010 for when the draft might be submitted to the Iraqi parliament - which might well need another six months to pass it into law.

Thus, the 2010 deadline fixed by Obama is a meaningless concept, thrown in as a sop to his anti-war base.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Bush administration have a more flexible timetable in mind.

According to Zebari, the envisaged time span is two or three years - departure in 2011 or 2012. That would let Iraq hold its next general election, the third since liberation, and resolve a number of domestic political issues.

Even then, the dates mentioned are only "notional," making the timing and the cadence of withdrawal conditional on realities on the ground as appreciated by both sides.

Iraqi leaders are divided over the US election. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (whose party is a member of the Socialist International) sees Obama as "a man of the Left" - who, once elected, might change his opposition to Iraq's liberation. Indeed, say Talabani's advisers, a President Obama might be tempted to appropriate the victory that America has already won in Iraq by claiming that his intervention transformed failure into success.

Maliki's advisers have persuaded him that Obama will win - but the prime minister worries about the senator's "political debt to the anti-war lobby" - which is determined to transform Iraq into a disaster to prove that toppling Saddam Hussein was "the biggest strategic blunder in US history."

Other prominent Iraqi leaders, such as Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani, believe that Sen. John McCain would show "a more realistic approach to Iraqi issues."

Obama has given Iraqis the impression that he doesn't want Iraq to appear anything like a success, let alone a victory, for America. The reason? He fears that the perception of US victory there might revive the Bush Doctrine of "pre-emptive" war - that is, removing a threat before it strikes at America.

Despite some usual equivocations on the subject, Obama rejects pre-emption as a legitimate form of self -defense. To be credible, his foreign-policy philosophy requires Iraq to be seen as a failure, a disaster, a quagmire, a pig with lipstick or any of the other apocalyptic adjectives used by the American defeat industry in the past five years.

Yet Iraq is doing much better than its friends hoped and its enemies feared. The UN mandate will be extended in December, and we may yet get an agreement on the status of forces before President Bush leaves the White House in January.

texaspackerbacker
09-15-2008, 12:17 PM
So basically, Obama is a double-dealing son-of-a-bitch?

Gosh, what a surprise.

sheepshead
09-15-2008, 12:21 PM
It's from the dem playbook-win the house and dont do shit and blame it on Bush. Even I didnt think they would stoop this low.

They are so power hungry they could give a shit what happens to anyone that gets in their way, including our brave voluntary military.

packinpatland
09-15-2008, 12:44 PM
Quote is from where?

LL2
09-15-2008, 12:49 PM
It's from the dem playbook-win the house and dont do shit and blame it on Bush. Even I didnt think they would stoop this low.

They are so power hungry they could give a shit what happens to anyone that gets in their way, including our brave voluntary military.

Your right about that. I saw an article recently that showed the economy actually started going in reverse when the Dems took over the house in 2006. It had some good stats, but do not quote me on anything as I can't recall where online I read it.

HowardRoark
09-15-2008, 12:51 PM
Quote is from where?

New York Post

Amir Taheri

sheepshead
09-15-2008, 12:57 PM
It's from the dem playbook-win the house and dont do shit and blame it on Bush. Even I didnt think they would stoop this low.

They are so power hungry they could give a shit what happens to anyone that gets in their way, including our brave voluntary military.

Your right about that. I saw an article recently that showed the economy actually started going in reverse when the Dems took over the house in 2006. It had some good stats, but do not quote me on anything as I can't recall where online I read it.
Truth is after 9-11 and the inherited dotcom bust, installing homeland security-funding the irag resolution-the Bush tax cuts have worked remarkably well. Congress hasnt passed anything since '06 and it's all by design.

texaspackerbacker
09-15-2008, 01:34 PM
If this article is true to the letter, Obama's political tampering in Iraq to the detriment of America comes pretty close to treason.

As rotten as Obama is, even I would stop short of accusing him of that. Vague suggestions in that direction--delaying withdrawal--are one thing. That he may be doing, but trying to cut an insider deal with them? I don't think so. That would expose him too much.

Bossman641
09-15-2008, 02:08 PM
Double-talk from Obama???

Shocking :roll:

swede
09-15-2008, 03:45 PM
CURRENT EVENTS QUIZ!

Which of these events happened on September 15th, 2008?


Pilot suffers heart attack. Pet monkey lands plane safely.

Jessica Simpson discovers secret of cold fusion and saves world from energy crisis.

Texaspackerbacker defends Obama.




As rotten as Obama is, even I would stop short of accusing him of that.

Tyrone Bigguns
09-15-2008, 03:55 PM
Obama takes the playbook from Reagan. Ooops.

texaspackerbacker
09-15-2008, 04:51 PM
CURRENT EVENTS QUIZ!

Which of these events happened on September 15th, 2008?


Pilot suffers heart attack. Pet monkey lands plane safely.

Jessica Simpson discovers secret of cold fusion and saves world from energy crisis.

Texaspackerbacker defends Obama.




As rotten as Obama is, even I would stop short of accusing him of that.

Oh give me a break! I just said I wouldn't hang the guy for treason--not that I wouldn't ..... aw shit, I can't even think of something good to say that won't do more harm than good. Maybe I learned my lesson with the Russert thing.

Strange that Tyrone would bring up Reagan--I assume he means the ludicrus accusation that he tampered and got the Iranians to hold off on releasing the hostages until Carter left office.

Yes, this Obama thing probably is about that far-fetched.