SP4: 'heloo?'Jul 18th, 2008 - 17:23:32

'...yes, this is th Prezidint...oh!..heloo senatah Obaama.....congrats on the campaign....a reel mahle stoone fer sure.....!'

'..whut....I rac?....withdrawl tahmline...?...weeell...no boyh...haven't got one yit....reeelah!???...y' don't want me ta siahn one....kinda confusin afta all thit stuff ya saaid in th press!....hey Barak...hoow bout ah greenlahgt thim 16 months fer ya?...mah treet boyh!....thin ya'd have it all tied up taght n'all....nooo need ta hav ta sell thit ta thim liberals ya lahke s' much!...nooo?....reeelly?....well, whateveh ya say boyh!...afta all, we's here ta hep!'

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News flash - SP4 still a jerkJul 19th, 2008 - 08:06:05

Bush's switch in position is putting McCain into a corner. This is a guy who opined that 100 years would be OK with him.

Perhaps, on those many visits to Iraq, he should have listened to the Iraqi leadership as well.

This policy switch also affects Bush's plans for large-scale U.S. bases in Iraq such as Balad, which require a number of troops to man them. The Iraqis are torn between a fear of things falling apart if we leave, and a need to put this period behind them, so they can run their own country, rather than functioning as a U.S. satellite. Thank the oil revenues, in part.

They pass laws in line with the benchmarks, and then don't implement them. The major issues of the provincial elections and split of oil revenue; and in fact demarkation of who controls what, are up in the air. The Sunni are getting paid by the U.S. to battle al Qaeda - and if al Qaeda is defeated, WHY are we paying them? The Shia leadership is not about to kick a bunch of Shia out of jobs to give them to the Sunni, and patronage in the ministries is rampant, as well as corruption. Nothing gets done without payoffs; and the latest news about electrical problems in U.S. troops' quarters stem from sub-contractors hiring untrained Iraqis to do the work.

Ira

www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?bl&ex=121661280 0&en=92090363b50f6f1c&ei=5087%0A

'Bush, in Shift, Accepts Idea of Iraq Timeline'

Mr. Bush and his aides, traveling in Tucson and Houston to attend Republican fund-raisers, insisted again that the administration was not accepting any timetable for withdrawing American forces, which now total roughly 140,000. But the administration has faced increasing resistance from a newly confident Iraq, where some officials have said publicly that Iraq can take charge of much of its security by 2009, and be able to operate without American help by 2012.

Under pressure from political parties wanting a diminishing American role, Mr. Maliki began demanding something in the agreement that would make it clear that American troops were on the way out. Iraq’s statement on Friday, reflecting those internal sensitivities, referred more specifically than the American version to “a time frame for the complete transfer of the security responsibilities to the hands of the Iraqi security as preface to decrease the number of the American forces and withdraw them later from Iraq.”

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al-Maliki endorses Obama's positionJul 19th, 2008 - 14:28:30

www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL1980090

BERLIN, July 19 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible. '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.'

It is the first time he has backed the withdrawal timetable put forward by Obama, who is visiting Afghanistan and us set to go to Iraq as part of a tour of Europe and the Middle East.

Obama has called for a shift away from a 'single-minded' focus on Iraq and wants to pull out troops within 16 months, instead adding U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan.

Asked if he supported Obama's ideas more than those of John McCain, Republican presidential hopeful, Maliki said he did not want to recommend who people should vote for. 'Whoever is thinking about the shorter term is closer to reality. Artificially extending the stay of U.S. troops would cause problems.'

(and Obama got it right without even visiting for a photo-op)

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