I have been doing a bit of digging about the recent article on Obama having tried to interfere with troop withdrawal in Iraq in order to make it look like the old Iraq policy has failed, and once he got into power, his supposedly new one would have succeeded.
I am trying to get some sense if it is another complete pack of lies like they have been doing to Palin, or if there is some truth in it.
There seems to be a fair amount of truth in it from the fact that officials are willing to put their names to it.
This is the original editorial in his usual Op-Ed column:.
OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS’ IRAQ WITHDRAWAL
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm?&page=0
So it is an opinion piece by Amir Taheri, not a news article.
Some argue that Tahiri is noted for his lies, http://irancoverage.com/2007/11/21/the-lies-of-amir-taheri/
And I have to say I was very worried when I saw one of the items:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/cohleresses
Elena Benador, PR agent for Taheri (as well as Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Ledeen, Laurie Mylroie, Richard Perle, and James Woolsey) defended Taheri. Benador explained that, when it comes to Iran, accuracy is “a luxury…As much as being accurate is important, in the end it’s important to side with what’s right. What’s wrong is siding with the terrorists.”
Translation=”It is okay to lie about Iran.”
I am sorry, but TRUTH and ACCURACY are important and essential, not a luxury.
The post is a right-wing paper by comparison with the others in New York City.
Having said that, in his op-ed article he states:
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.
So at the same time that the source is suspect, Zebari is actually willling to put his name to the story, not siphon it through the usual ‘anonymous source’ cloak.
Journalists need to interview Zebari in more depth.
Pajamas Media is trying to sniff out more information:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obamas-questionable-diplomacy-in-iraq/2/
and has a response from McCain’s camp. As of their writing, Obama’s camp refused to comment. Which could be telling in itself,”lack of outrage, much?
Here is the other coverage:
Wake up America
http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-tried-to-interfere-with-iraq.html
and hot air links
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/15/did-obama-try-to-scotch-an-iraqi-us-agreement-on-military-forces/
also wizbang
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/09/15/during-his-july-tour-of-iraq-obama-tried-to-undermine-negotiations-between-the-us-and-iraq-for-troop-drawdown.php
They are all pretty similar but the first one is the most detailed to date.
One has to be worried on the one hand, because it was the left bloggers who started the whole stream of lies about Palin. They would just be returning the favor.
But if we look at a reliable source on Obama’s trip in July, Reuters, this is the original Reuters coverage:
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GCA-iraq/idUSL0236543520080721?sp=true
It says that Bush had already agreed to troop withdrawal the week prior, and the Iraqis were trying to pin down a more firm date.
It is fully possible, in the effort to paint Iraq a failure, that Obama might have tried to interfere with that on the grounds of gaining more power. But as the Iraqis had said to him at the time, it would have to be on THEIR timetable more than the US’s for the sake of all concerned.
That is, the Iraqis would have to be ready.
Obama met with Petraeus while he was over there, but Petraeus has now gone, so one has to wonder what diplomatic and intellligence connections Obama has had in the past, and has at present in the region.
McCain has been there 8 times, Obama only once previously, in Jan 2006. Where has Obama been getting his intel from? Who his sources and contacts are?
We should be hearing more about this if people start to winkle out the truth more one way or the other.
On the other hand, why is it not causing a feeding frenzy? I am getting ‘the politics of fashion’ on how Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin and H Clinton are affecting women’s fashions, for pity’s sake.
I also looked at the timeline–
New Yorker Magazine published this:
Obama’s Iraq Problem
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/07/07/080707taco_talk_packer
A week later:
Obama: My Plan for Iraq
and of course he went to Iraq as soon as McCain poked at his (in)experience.
Even if the op ed piece in the Post is not true at all, the article by Obama and trip to Iraq speaks to his motives in what he is doing, literally anything to get elected. = “I’m not flip flopping, you’re the ones who got it wrong.”
I’m afraid it is looking more and more like the DNC got it wrong. They refused to seat all the Florida and Michigan delegates, which would have put H Clinton over the required number.
And Obama got it wrong, ignoring 18 million people who voted for H Clinton, and choosing Biden as VP.
As a follow up, Taheri stands by his assertions, and is now getting death threats:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09172008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_objects_129453.htm
