Obama tried to get Iraq not to negotiate GIS Withdrawl until after election...

[progress]

Democrats are so focused on trashing Palin, they choose to turn a blind eye to a major criminal act committed by their candidate. This is a direct violation of the Logan Act, and a direct case of why it is in place:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008...50.htm?&page=0

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.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

....While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

He also did the same thing with Canada regarding NAFTA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0...n_n_89539.html

[PETA]

FFS dude she has a daughter that's pregnant and she fired a cop - don't you think that's a little more important that Obama trying to get us out of a war we've clearly lost?

[progress]

Originally Posted by St. Stalin the Apathetic

FFS dude she has a daughter that's pregnant and she fired a cop - don't you think that's a little more important that Obama trying to get us out of a war we've clearly lost?

I just spit water on my screen.....

[jaesun]

<-- Not Suprised

[zerojunkie]

Where are the Obamanians?

[progress]

Obviously playing the role of the typical Democrat and trying to ignore this....

[PETA]

I told you there's nothing to see here - won't you please get back to "son" cough *grandson* cough cough

[Johnny Funk]

How Reagan of him.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Johnny Funk

How Reagan of him.

After twelve years of news reports looking into the alleged conspiracy, both houses of the US Congress held separate inquiries into the issue, and journalists from sources such as Newsweek and The New Republic looked into the charges. Both Congressional inquires, as well as the majority of investigative reports, found that the charges were groundless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October...ise_conspiracy

[GreyArea]

Noted Bamboozler Behind Latest Obama Smear

By Zachary Roth - September 16, 2008, 12:14PM

Since yesterday, the right-wing blogosphere has been all aflutter over a report in the New York Post, written by the Iraqi journalist Amir Taheri, that Barack Obama has privately tried to delay an agreement between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration on a draw-down of American forces from Iraq.
Here's the key passage:

Yesterday evening, the McCain camp sought to get some mileage out of Taheri's report, releasing a statement from Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign policy aide, asserting that: "If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas."

But there are a couple reasons why the bloviation looks to be uncalled for. The Obama camp yesterday put out a statement of its own asserting that the story "bears as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial," and charging that Taheri has confused a long-term Status of Forces agreement with negotations over a shorter-term drawdown.

It's worth looking at that distinction more closely to get a sense of what the Obama camp means here and where Taheri may have erred. In terms of a Status of Forces agreement, Obama has consistently made clear that he believes any such agreement should be delayed until after the election -- so that a President Obama or McCain would not be bound by an agreement negotiated by a weakened Bush administration. The McCain camp did not object when, in June, Obama told reporters at a press conference that he had made exactly this argument to Zebari in a phone call.

The Obama campaign's statement released yesterday in response to the report was consistent with this position: "Barack Obama has consistently called for any Strategic Framework Agreement to be submitted to the U.S. Congress so that the American people have the same opportunity for review as the Iraqi Parliament," though, perhaps unwilling to alienate antiwar voters, it artfully omitted the fact that Obama has argued that this should be delayed until the next administration is in charge.

As for a shorter-term drawdown -- which is what Taheri seems to mean by "a draw-down of the American military presence" -- Obama has never suggested that this should be delayed. And again, yesterday's statement backs that up: "Unlike John McCain, he supports a clear timetable to redeploy our troops that has the support of the Iraqi government. Barack Obama has never urged a delay in negotiations, nor has he urged a delay in immediately beginning a responsible drawdown of our combat brigades."

Still, if Taheri's report were accurate, and Obama had indeed talked to Zebari about delaying any shorter-term deal, it would at least represent a change of position for the candidate.

But Taheri doesn't exactly have a reputation for care and precision in his work. In May 2006, he published an explosive story in the Post (since removed from the paper's site), as well as Canada's National Post, about an Iranian law that forced Jews to wear a yellow stripe, stoking fears of a second Nazi Germany. Only problem: it turned out to be a complete fabrication.

That turned out to be typical of Taheri's work. A 1989 review of Taheri's book, Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran, written for The New Republic by noted Iranian scholar Shaul Bakhash and unearthed by TPMmuckraker in 2006, noted that Taheri "repeatedly refers us to books where the information cited does not exist," and is "capable of generalizations of breathtaking sweep and inaccuracy." According to Bakhash, "[Taheri's] interpretations of the documents are often egregiously inaccurate," and he "has trouble transcribing even the simplest information."
One Iraq scholar told TPMmuckraker after the false yellow-star report, referring to Taheri: "This is a person who doesn't have any credibility."

Doesn't exactly sound like a reliable source.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ind_latest.php

[Johnny Funk]

Originally Posted by progress

Obviously playing the role of the typical Republican and trying to ignore this....

Nevertheless, several individuals, most notably former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr and former Reagan-Bush campaign and White House staffer Barbara Honegger, continue to claim otherwise.

We can go in circles all day. You're not going to convince me that both parties are not completely full of shit.

[progress]

Originally Posted by GreyArea

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ind_latest.php

So the NY Post isn't a reliable source, yet the guy leading the charge on Palin's smear campaign is? Please....

Originally Posted by Johnny Funk

We can go in circles all day. You're not going to convince me that both parties are not completely full of shit.

Because we all know Former IRANIAN Presidents are a credible source too....

Never said either party "wasn't full of shit", however, one is way more than the other, and it happens to have Obama leading it...

[GreyArea]

Originally Posted by progress

So the NY Post isn't a reliable source, yet the guy leading the charge on Palin's smear campaign is? Please....

What Obama said (and McCain agreed with) is that any long term status of focus agreement should be delayed till the new president takes office, and congress has a chance to review and approve it.

That's been known policy for month, and is a sound piece of logic.

What the fabricated story was about was Obama trying to delay a short term troop withdraw, so he could credit for it post election. That's an outright lie.

"In terms of a Status of Forces agreement, Obama has consistently made clear that he believes any such agreement should be delayed until after the election -- so that a President Obama or McCain would not be bound by an agreement negotiated by a weakened Bush administration. The McCain camp did not object when, in June, Obama told reporters at a press conference that he had made exactly this argument to Zebari in a phone call."

[charlie brown]

thanks for the clarification greyarea

[progress]

Originally Posted by GreyArea

What Obama said (and McCain agreed with) is that any long term status of focus agreement should be delayed till the new president takes office, and congress has a chance to review and approve it.

That's been known policy for month, and is a sound piece of logic.

What the fabricated story was about was Obama trying to delay a short term troop withdraw, so he could credit for it post election. That's an outright lie.

"In terms of a Status of Forces agreement, Obama has consistently made clear that he believes any such agreement should be delayed until after the election -- so that a President Obama or McCain would not be bound by an agreement negotiated by a weakened Bush administration. The McCain camp did not object when, in June, Obama told reporters at a press conference that he had made exactly this argument to Zebari in a phone call."

Again, stated by the reporter that is leading the charge on the Palin smear campaign.

And, this was McCain's response:

McCain spokesman Randy Scheunemann stated as follows:

"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."