As was reported by German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, backed Obama's troop withdrawal plan. Here is the exchange concerning Obama's withdrawal proposal:
Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. 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.
SPIEGEL: Is this an endorsement for the US presidential election in November? Does Obama, who has no military background, ultimately have a better understanding of Iraq than war hero John McCain?
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.
Reuters
McCain's campaign went nuts over the statement, falsely asserting that Maliki really meant to say he agreed with McCain. As spokesman for McCain distorted Obama's position again by saying, "The difference between John McCain and Barack Obama is that Barack Obama advocates an unconditional withdrawal that ignores the facts on the ground and the advice of our top military commanders..." Obama has always said he would consult with commanders on the ground.
No surprisingly, the Bush propaganda machine crank up on Sunday issuing a statement that Maliki had been "mistranslated" and that's not at all what he really said. Right. The statement was issued by the US military-controlled Iraq press desk, and they didn't say what the mis-translation was. Der Spiegel is standing by their story.
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