"Iraqi spokesman's" "clarification" came via CENTCOM

[Ichingcarpenter]

Prime Minister Maliki's statement was "misunderstood and mistranslated" and "not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama, U.S. presidential candidate, on the timeframe for U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq." But as the Times notes al Dabbagh did not specify what had been mistranslated.

Another interesting detail, noted by the Times. al-Dabbagh's statement was released by CentCom. I do not know how often Iraqi government statements are released by CentCom.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204762.php

[kentuck]

1. Isn't Petraeus now in charge of CentCom?

:shrug:

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Yep and they are not usual spokesmen for the Iraqi Government

'Or are they'?????? Highly unusual I thought and so did Josh Marshall.

[slinkerwink]

2. that's odd

[Bullet1987]

3. Something smells MIIIIGHTY fishy here....

[dolo amber]

4. They're just not even trying to be clever anymore

:eyes:

[babylonsister]

5. Thank you, and hot stuff. That was predicted. On DU. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Then Petraeus talks to AP news on the same day about Al Qaeda

After intense U.S. assaults, Al Qaeda may be considering shifting focus to its original home base in Afghanistan, where American casualties are running higher than in Iraq, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Saturday.

"We do think that there is some assessment ongoing as to the continued viability of Al Qaeda's fight in Iraq," Gen. David Petraeus told The Associated Press in an interview at his office at the U.S. Embassy.

Whatever the result, Petraeus said no one should expect Al Qaeda to give up entirely in Iraq.

"They're not going to abandon Iraq. They're not going to write it off. None of that," he said. "But what they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,386647,00.html

Sorry about the link but it is an AP story.

[babylonsister]

11. I cannot even fathom what's going on. Does Petraeus care

that Obama's there, and think about this: he's supposed to be in front of the Senate mid-month, probably encouraging us that McSame's plan is the only viable one.

Maybe not. We'll see.

[Newsjock]

7. I'm sure CNN will jump right on this

They would never knowingly mislead their viewers, would they. WOULD THEY.

[EFerrari]

8. LOL. That's pretty desperate. n/t

[mucifer]

10. wow the usa newspapers aren't spinning it that way yet

[Quixote1818]

12. K and R

[EFerrari]

13. Have you seen this?

White House Accidentally E-Mails to Reporters Story That Maliki Supports Obama Iraq Withdrawal Plan
Source: ABC News

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine."

The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months … ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,'" the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3402566

[writes3000]

14. The Initial Story is so widespread now. Their attempt to manipulate a retraction is too late.

"Al Maliki supports Obama's timetable" is headline news everywhere.

[EFerrari]

15. See my link above. it's widespread because they accidently sent it

to their media distribution list.

lol

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. Der Spiegel responds to CentCom and stands by the story

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,566888,00.html

[EFerrari]

18. Of course. But this is yet another case of BushCo kicking itself in the shins.

[ErinBerin84]

17. Yeah, I saw Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC this morning

DESPERATE to get this "retraction" point across. I swear, she was heaving huge sighs of relief, I was surprised that she was able to not slip in a "THANK GOD, now that was apparently misinterpreted, and he backs the TIME HORIZON!" Pukkkkkkeee. And she is trying soooo hard to beat the Petraeus drum "Well, HE SAID IT WOULD BE MISTAKE, blah blah blah".


Also, watched a bit of Reliable Sources on CNN. They are so jealous that they couldn't get people from CNN on Obama's trip. They had on trolls from ABC and the New Republic talking about the "favorable press" that Obama will receive on the trip, how "unfair" it has been to McCain that everyone wants to pay attention to Obama and he gets free air time, and how we all need to "pressure" the anchors to ask the "tough questions!" while Obama is in Iraq. It's such bullshit. As if the anchors aren't going to be hanging on his every single word, and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up whipping the "body language experts" out this week.

[BlooInBloo]

19. There is no spoon....

:rofl: