Iraq leader claims he helped Barack Obama seize the presidency

[Wretched Excess]

the obamessiah got used like a phuckpuppet before he ever got into office.  I wonder who else is holding IOU's that The BarackStar! will have to cash in?

Iraq leader claims he helped Barack Obama seize the presidency
Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has claimed privately that embracing Barack Obama's plans to withdraw from Iraq was instrumental in securing the US presidency for the Democratic candidate.

A senior Western diplomat in Baghdad said that Mr Maliki told close aides he would hold the new president to an obligation to oversee a rapid withdrawal of US troops, a key Iraqi government demand in recent talks.

"Maliki has said he took the Iraq issue 'off the table' for Obama by endorsing his timetable during his visit to Baghdad in July," the diplomat told The Daily Telegraph.

"Maliki firmly hoped for an Obama victory and has used expectations of such to drive a very hard bargain with the US over its presence in Iraq.

"The prime minister has extracted an unbelievable number of concessions from the Bush administration and thinks Obama will be even more generous in implementing the deal."

Mr Obama made a congressional fact-finding tour of Afghanistan and Iraq in July after coming under heavy Republican criticism over his signature pledge to pull out combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

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[DumbAss Tanker]

He's about two months out of touch on that.  Iraq dropped off the public's "Givashit" screen when the mortgage crisis hit, Zaire got more airtime than al-Maliki's garden spot after that.

[Jim]

we'll see if he's as happy when Iran comes pouring over the border looking for his blood.

[docstew]

ok, he wants US forces out so bad, let's start with the money we put into infrastructure and start pulling back to the FOBs... we'll respond to attacks on our troops only and start a drawdown.  and don't call us, we'll call you 

[Wretched Excess]

He's about two months out of touch on that.  Iraq dropped off the public's "Givashit" screen when the mortgage crisis hit, Zaire got more airtime than al-Maliki's garden spot after that.

yeah, but it shouldn't have.  the GWOT will still be raging when the markets start to come back.  well, that is assuming that the whole thing doesn't go "splat".

[DumbAss Tanker]

yeah, but it shouldn't have.  the GWOT will still be raging when the markets start to come back.  well, that is assuming that the whole thing doesn't go "splat".

True, but I was talking about the campaign as it played out, not the 'shoulda' of the whole thing.

[Wretched Excess]

ok, he wants US forces out so bad, let's start with the money we put into infrastructure and start pulling back to the FOBs... we'll respond to attacks on our troops only and start a drawdown.  and don't call us, we'll call you 

the drawdown has already started.  but the bush administration is wisely not making a big deal out of it . . .