Obama tried to persuade Iraqi government?

[jendf]

Just a headline on Drudge. No story...but will break in tomorrow's Washington Times.

WASH TIMES Friday: Obama secretly tried to sway Iraqi government to ignore Bush deal on keeping troops in Iraq... Developing...

[Happy Fun Ball]

Isn't this the story as last month, or is this something new?

[Schadenfreude]

Seems like this is a rehash, but maybe it only seems like a rehash because it never made it out of the blogosphere.

Is this a turning point? Are we seeing the MSM turning on The One? I noticed Hillary's intrade was having a little action this morning.

OK I am not a wonk.... I admit it. 

[jendf]

I hadn't seen that original story. Maybe it is just a rehash then.

[jendf]

I've been researching this because I honestly didn't hear about it the first time. I think it was because I was impatiently hoping my D'backs would come through with a postseason berth for me at the time. 

Anywho....

I have to give a hat tip to poster BillBrown at the Hannity forum. He seemed to explain it well. The story in September involved one meeting that Obama and heads of state attended. All acknowledged the such a meeting took place and no criminal acts happened there. Hagel apparently vouched for it all.

What is supposedly coming out tomorrow is evidence of another meeting, a private one between Obama and Iraqi officials, asking them to postpone a decision until a new president was in office (obviously himself). If this is true, that would theoretically be a felony under the Logan Act.


Whatever the story ends up turning out to be about, I hope it's another shit storm for Obama to deal with. Nothing seems to stick to this guy thanks to the MSM. I would really love to see him dirtied up from now until 11/4.

Don't yell at me if I have the details all out of whack. Like I said, this is the first I've heard about any of this so I'm learning!

[Wretched Excess]

I would think there must be additional facts that have come to light.  last month's story didn't make
much of a splash because there wasn't much to it, beyond a comment by zabari saying that obama had
demanded the delay, and the obama campaign angrily denying it.  that was about it.  perhaps now they
have corroboration, or have found documentation that proves it.

I was actually wondering why there wasn't any follow-up on this story by those few MSM sources that
aren't totally in the tank for The BarckStar!  maybe this is it, and it just took a month to put it all together.

[jendf]

I would think there must be additional facts that have come to light.  last month's story didn't make
much of a splash because there wasn't much to it, beyond a comment by zabari saying that obama had
demanded the delay, and the obama campaign angrily denying it.  that was about it.  perhaps now they
have corroboration, or have found documentation that proves it.

I was actually wondering why there wasn't any follow-up on this story by those few MSM sources that
aren't totally in the tank for The BarckStar!  maybe this is it, and it just took a month to put it all together.

Threadjack--Sorry about your Dodgers, WE. They'll get the next one! 

[Wretched Excess]

Threadjack--Sorry about your Dodgers, WE. They'll get the next one! 

thanks.   that 3 run sixth inning all started with a dodgers infield error.

[jendf]

Well, here are excerts from the full article...

It mostly just sounds like a he said/she said kind of thing.

snip

Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office - a charge the Democratic campaign denies.

Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari's request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.

However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.

"In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.

He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. "The new administration will have a free hand to opt out," he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.

Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward.

The call was not recorded by either side, and Mr. Zebari did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail messages requesting direct comment.

snip

Obama campaign spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Mr. Obama does not object to a short-term status of forces agreement, or SOFA.

Mr. Obama told Mr. Zebari in June that a SOFA "should be completed before January and it must include immunity for U.S. troops," Miss Morigi wrote in an e-mail.

However, the Democratic nominee said a broader strategic framework agreement governing a longer-term U.S. presence in Iraq "should be vetted by Congress," she wrote.

She said Mr. Obama said the same thing when he met in July with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Mr. Zebari in Baghdad.

A recent article in the New York Post quoted Mr. Zebari as saying that Mr. Obama asked Iraqi leaders in July to delay any agreement on a reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq until the next U.S. president takes office.

Miss Morigi denied this. She said the request for Senate vetting was bipartisan and noted that the first Obama-Zebari conversation took place 12 days after four other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - including Republican Sens. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska - wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urging consultation over any agreements committing U.S. troops and civilian contractors to Iraq "for an extended period of time."

When Mr. Obama spoke to Mr. Zebari, he was speaking in his capacity as a senator and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Miss Morigi said. "It's obvious that others are trying to mischaracterize Obama's position, [but] on numerous occasions he has made it perfectly clear that the United States only has one president at a time and that the administration speaks with one voice."

Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who accompanied Mr. Obama in Iraq along with Mr. Hagel, said they made "no suggestion of any type of delay" in any agreements.