October 11, 2008 11:31:59 AM CDT
(Newser) – Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq this week was "the earliest and most ostentatious absentee ballot of this presidential election," writes Charles Krauthammer. The Washington Post columnist thinks that the Iraqi PM gave Obama an electorial assist for a clear reason: between him and John McCain, "it is no mystery who would be the more pliant US negotiator."
McCain, like George W. Bush, thinks that America must profit from the long war with Iraq by establishing a strategic relationship and using Iraq as a regional power base. Not the Democrats: they are "so sick of this war, so politically and psychologically committed to its liquidation" that they'll cede to any of Maliki's demands to get out. And if, as Krauthammer predicts, Obama becomes president, Iraq's PM has a new bargaining chip: "He now owes him."
Source Washington Post
Oct 6, 08 1:56 PM CDT Members of the US military and their families are looking to the November election to address the hardships of military life, but opinions vary as to which candidate will serve them best, the Boston Globe reports. John McCain’s vows to honor service—and promise of higher pay—have clear appeal, but so do Barack Obama’s goals of ending the Iraq war and reuniting families. More »
Aug 25, 08 11:19 AM CDT The US has agreed to a timeline that forces all foreign troops out of Iraq by 2011 as part of a proposed pact, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said today. "There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki told tribal leaders. But the US said the deal had not yet been sealed, Reuters reports. More »
Aug 21, 08 6:19 AM CDT Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Iraq on an unannounced trip, where she will meet with PM Nouri al-Maliki and other top officials to continue talks to keep American troops in the country after their UN mandate expires. While sources in both the US and Iraq have said that an agreement has already been drafted, Rice insisted that "all of the reports and rumors and chatter, it really ought to be ignored," reports CNN. "When we have a deal, we'll have a deal." More »
Aug 20, 08 2:48 PM CDT Negotiators for the US and Iraq have completed a draft security agreement that plans to have US forces out of Iraqi cities by June 30, and out of the country completely by the end of 2011, the AP reports. Negotiators also reached accord on the contentious issue of legal immunity for US troops, but the prime minister’s office is said to have objections—and neither side has signed off officially. More »
Jul 25, 08 5:00 PM CDT In an interview with CNN today, John McCain called Nouri al-Maliki’s troop withdrawal plan a “pretty good timetable”—leading Josh Marshall, on Talking Points Memo, to call foul. So “Barack Obama's 16 month timetable is a catastrophe,” Marshall says, the difference being that the Iraqi prime minister’s “is based on conditions on the ground and Obama's isn't—even though they're both 16 months.” More »
Barack Obama • John McCain • Election 2008 • Iraq • US military • Nouri al-Maliki • troop withdrawal • Iraq exit strategy • timetable
