Iraqi Government Acting Like Real Government
The Iraqi government is claiming Der Spiegel mistranslated earlier reports that they were supporting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops. The magazine stands by its story. Ali al-Dabbagh, the chief spokesman for al-Maliki, said in a statement Sunday that the prime minister's comments were "not conveyed accurately" by Der Spiegel. Al-Dabbagh said al-Maliki did not endorse a specific timetable ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 21, 2008 06:11
MoveOn Attacks McCain on Timeline
MoveOn has unveiled a new anti-McCain ad titled, simply, "Timeline." CNN's Emily Sherman has a summary. The opener: In Chicago, in Saint Louis and Seattle, the American people are demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. In Baghdad and Basra and Tikrit, the Iraqi people……and now the Iraqi Prime minister are also demanding a timetable. But John McCain doesn't want a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 16, 2008 12:32
Obama’s Plan For Iraq
Barack Obama takes to the op-ed pages of the NYT to present his new plan for Iraq which is conveniently his old plan for Iraq. He sees Nuri al-Maliki's proposal for a a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq as "an enormous opportunity." Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 14, 2008 09:19
Iraqi Government Demands Timetable For Troop Withdrawl
Iraq's national security advisor announced today that the Iraqi government will be demanding a hard timetable for American troop withdrawl:Iraq will not accept any security agreement with the United States unless it includes dates for the withdrawal of foreign forces, the government's national security adviser said on Tuesday. The comments by Mowaffaq al-Rubaie underscore the U.S.-backed government's hardening stance toward a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 8, 2008 11:43
Al Qaeda in Iraq Defeated?
Al Qaeda in Iraq [AQI] is all but defeated, Marie Colvin reports for The Sunday Times. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2008 07:56
Obama’s Prudent Inconsistency
If a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Barack Obama is a wise man, indeed. He's changed his mind a lot lately. The latest example is NAFTA. After having campaigned in Ohio and elsewhere on the need to renegotiate our trade agreement with Canada and Mexico and excoriating Hillary Clinton for her long-time support ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 19, 2008 08:37
Fallon’s First Interview as Civilian
Admiral William "Fox" Fallon, who resigned his post as CENTCOM commander after a controversial Tom Barnett interview was published in Esquire, gave his first interview as a private citizen to CNN's Kyra Phillips. A brief excerpt from the transcript: ADM. FALLON: I think the real story here is what's important. What was important was not me. It wasn't some ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 3, 2008 12:13
Petraeus Senate Testimony Cites ‘Significant but Uneven’ Progress
General David Petraeus' testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today was cautious and somewhat predictable. Key quotes follow with bold emphasis mine in all cases: Since Ambassador Crocker and I appeared before you seven months ago there has been significant but uneven security progress in Iraq. Since September, levels of violence and civilian deaths have been reduced substantially, Al ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 8, 2008 14:34
Joint Chiefs Chair Warns Obama and Clinton on Iraq
America's top military leader is warning about rapid withdrawal from Iraq. The Joint Chiefs chairman has a word of warning to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: A rapid of withdrawal from Iraq would lead to a "chaotic situation" and would "turnaround the gains we have achieved, and struggled to achieve, and turn them around overnight. Admiral Mullen's comments came in a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 29, 2008 07:08
John McCain CPAC Speech
John Hawkins, Joy McCann and I just wasted half an hour trying to get in to the McCain speech but, even with media credentials, we couldn't. Something about the fire code. I don't feel too bad: Clarence Page was there getting turned away with us, along with several less notable journalists working for mainstream media ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 7, 2008 15:11
