Cast adrift
To get some sense of of the meaning of Maliki's endorsement of Obama's Iraq policy, read the McCain campaign response.....
No disputation of facts, no arguments over policy. All they have left is shouting charges of appeasemement and "disloyal to America." (This is from the McCain campaign!)
When war rationales devolve to a country's "honor," that war is already over.
(Also on this story, it should be noted that "Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, issued a statement saying Mr. Maliki’s statement had been “as not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama...."
It should also be noted that this statement issued by Mr. al-Dabbagh "came from the U.S. military’s Central Command press office."
Why is CentCom making an Iraqi gov't press release?)
.....Timing is not as important as whether we leave with victory and honor, which is of no apparent concern to Barack Obama......
No disputation of facts, no arguments over policy. All they have left is shouting charges of appeasemement and "disloyal to America." (This is from the McCain campaign!)
When war rationales devolve to a country's "honor," that war is already over.
(Also on this story, it should be noted that "Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, issued a statement saying Mr. Maliki’s statement had been “as not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama...."
It should also be noted that this statement issued by Mr. al-Dabbagh "came from the U.S. military’s Central Command press office."
Why is CentCom making an Iraqi gov't press release?)
posted by mikevotes at
9:28 PM
6 Comments:
It's obvious the Administration has sprung into action and put the heat on Maliki, but this vague "retraction" is so clumsy as to convince no one. The U.S. military went to a convenient shill and told him what to say
Der Spiegel is a highly reputable, professional paper. It's highly unlikely that they "mistranslated" comments involving withdrawal three separate times.
They stand by the story.
I also think it's interesting that no major Iraqi press have carried al-Dabbagh's statement. The "retraction" seems to be purely for foreign consumption.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 8:41 AM
It does look as though al-Dabbagh is trying to soften Maliki's remarks. But he is definitely a major spokesman for the Iraqi government...
http://eyeraki.blogspot.com/2007/03/ali-al-dabbagh.html
By
Anonymous, at 11:03 AM
Oh yeah. Der Spiegel is top of the line. They're not making anything up.
....
Anon, oh yeah. al-Dabbagh is definitely THE real deal top spokesman. He's not some nobody, but, he's also like the US press secretaries. So, you have to take what he says in that vein.
By
mikevotes, at 11:23 AM
I didn't say he wasn't a major spokesman. I said he was a shill.
Having his statement go through the U.S. military supports his shill status.
I'm familiar with al-Dabbagh; he has a long history of defending the occupation and acting as an apologist for the U.S. military, as well as vehemently criticising Maliki's government. He's in his position because the occupiers want him there, not because the Iraqi government thinks he's great.
Imagine if Dana Perino made public criticisms about incompetence, corruption and cronyism in the Bush Administration on a regular basis. How long would she have a job in that Administration, do you think? The fact that al-Dabbagh can do the same for years with impunity tells me who his "masters" are, and why he was the Administration's one-stop option for undermining Maliki.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 11:24 AM
You're right todd...al-Dabbagh only keeps his job because of the occupation. The same could be said of any Iraqi official. Which is what makes Maliki's occasional bursts of independence so surprising.
By
Anonymous, at 2:26 PM
Everybody agrees.
That's always cool.
By
mikevotes, at 4:19 PM
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