So What Did Maliki Actually Say? Since The Original Translations Were Incorrect

[KittyWampus]

Can we have the correct versions?

Just for editorial oversight...

[SpiralHawk]

1. The Department of Homeland Truthiness has Winston Smith working on this

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, know that we have Always Been at WAR with Terra.

Big BushCo loves you.

[EV_Ares]

2. Isn't this hilarious do they really think anyone will believe them now after so many other lies, eom

[PCIntern]

3. Self-delete

self-delete;

This group has become way too sensitive for its own good, so I'm deleting this post.

[Youphemism]

4. His "correction" supported Obama even more...

There is, of course, no translational correction. Al-Maliki was backtracking because, in addition to that phone call you know he got, it's inappropriate for foreign leaders to pick favorites in a US election -- and a bad idea, in case their pick loses.

But in his statement saying he didn't mean to show support for one candidate over the other, he added this comment about withdrawal:

"Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic," al-Maliki said.

So he's not picking a favorite. He's just saying McCain has a problem with reality.

[KittyWampus]

5. Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

:)

[Willo]

6. Here's a link to get you started

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014129.php

And an excerpt from that link:

The retraction claimed that Maliki's comments were "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately," which might be plausible if there were only a single sentence in question. However, how likely is it that Spiegel mistranslated three separate comments? Here are the relevant excerpts from the interview:

Today, we in Iraq want to establish a timeframe for the withdrawal of international troops — and it should be short.

....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.

....Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic....The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.

There's just no way that all three of these passages were mistranslated. Maliki, for whatever reason (Mark Kleiman runs down the possibilities here), wants American troops out, and he wants them out sooner rather than later. There's really no way to spin that away.