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.
I’m not a lawyer, but doesn’t this seem like a possible violation of the Logan Act?
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 McCain campaign was pretty quick to jump on the red meat this one provided…
At this point, it is not yet clear what official American negotiations Senator Obama tried to undermine with Iraqi leaders, but the possibility of such actions is unprecedented. It should be concerning to all that he reportedly urged that the democratically-elected Iraqi government listen to him rather than the US administration in power. If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas. Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq’s Foreign Minister during their closed door meeting. The charge that he sought to delay the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq raises serious questions about Senator Obama’s judgment and it demands an explanation.
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An article written by an Iranian serial fabricator on the opinion page of the New York Post is such a credible news source.
smear, baby, smear
the real McCain slogan
You can’t.
What the hell was Senator Obama doing over there for the whole 24 hours he was in country?
That story got into the mainstream for a couple of days until it was thoroughly debunked. Very trust worthy news source you got there LB.
Zebari serves at the pleasure of George W. Bush, who has repreatedly tried to use wars for his own partisan purposes. Zebari is being “quoted” by a guy who has has been caught fabricating stories on numerous occasions.
Given the total lack of credibility of your source, it’s up to you to authenticate it if you’re going to cite it. And not jsut the quote, but the context of the quote. That’s a basic rule of reporting.
It was widely reported that Bush was attempting to tie the hands of the next president by entering into an agreement that would leave a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq, without consultation of the Congress which would have to fund said permanent presence.
The content of the “quote” (which of course is no quote but Zebari’s paraphrasing) is not disturbing in the least. What is disturbing is your source’s casting of it as political opportunism rather than good policy, which is what it was.
No surprise.
Maybe you didn’t read the rest of the comments further down, but even LB admitted that this story has no legs.
everything the Dems have been doing for the last two years. Decry the war, but keep the troops there.
In a ‘denial’ of the Taheri’s story, Obama’s “National Security Spokeswoman” (snicker) Wendy Morigi said:
That’s exactly what Tehari said he did.
WTF?
I was about to write a post explaining why you are an idiot, but ThillyWabbit just did it above. Thank you ThillyWabbit, Trix are for kids.
The agreement you’re referring to is the one that would “tie the next president’s hands.” The fact is the Iraqis are beginning to push for a rapid withdrawal of forces and the Bush administration is opposing them every way they can. Any permanent “agreement” with Bush is suspect and cannot be made binding on a new administration.
You are grasping at hypocritical straws and deeply full of shit, as usual.
that the MSM didn’t pick this up.
I agree. I’m sorry I didn’t check this guy out more.
Mea Culpa.
Remember my glee at Mitt calling McCain a liar yesterday? Pretty much the same thing. No need to apologize.
.
We all make ’em,
we don’t all admit to ’em.
.