That’s right. Nobody there.
Let’s hope this ist true…
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that an agreement had been reached in negotiations on a security pact with the United States to end any foreign military presence in Iraq by the end of 2011.
“There is an agreement actually reached, reached between [...]

“I am glad that the administration has finally shifted to accepting a timetable for the removal of our combat troops from Iraq.”
- Obama on the Bush administration’s new Iraq withdrawal agreement
So in response to Alan’s question of whether or not this new timetable helps Obama or McCain…my money is on Obama since it plays right [...]

There is a reported deal on the table that would have U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2012 with troops out of cities and towns by June 30, 2009. Both nations still have to approve the deal and there will be written-in wiggle room to allow Americans to stay longer at Iraqi request, but it [...]

With a start date of June 30, 2009 no less!
From AP:
The negotiations over a withdrawal timetable follow long insistence by President Bush that setting any schedule for U.S. troops to leave would be dangerous. The draft agreement with Iraq would link troop reductions to achievement of certain security milestones, although the details have not been [...]

We’re paying through the nose now because we didn’t plan ahead back then.
From CS Monitor:
The Army may begin paying a retention bonus of as much as $150,000 to Arabic speaking soldiers in reflection of how critical it has become for the US military to retain native language and cultural know-how in its ranks.
Only one other [...]

An unfortunate setback, but my guess is that somebody will fill Sheik Ibrahim al-Karbouli’s shoes quickly. Iraq is now starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel, and whoever is brave enough to stand up could reap some serious rewards.
From the AP:
Unknown gunmen attacked the convoy of Sheik Ibrahim al-Karbouli in Youssifiyah [...]

Who knew the views he expressed last fall would be so popular nowadays? And this overseas trip only put an exclamation point on the fact that many seem to adopting his stances in one way or another.
Frank Rich breaks it down…
First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed Bush dogma by raising [...]

Not all moderates and independents are enamored with a toe-the-party-line Democratic President, a 100 vote Democratic majority in the House, and a filibuster proof Democratic Senate all promising more taxes, more regulation, more spending programs, more faith based initiatives, less free trade, mandatory government service, no new drilling, anda return to corrupt single party K-Street earmark business as usual.

Watch…

Now remember, Maliki didn’t just say this once…he said it twice. And then other Iraqi officials said “2010″ specifically. There was no mistranslation. So when McCain says “he won’t,” well, that ship has already sailed. Maliki “has” and McCain not wanting to accept that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
More as it develops…

Rattling around the Internets yesterday was this report that, in an interview with CBS, John McCain misstated the timeline for the Iraq surge and the Anbar Awakening. The Awakening began before President Bush announced the troop increases but McCain’s statements made it sound as if the surge directly led to the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida [...]

Some sage advice for McCain from the columnist who once supported the Iraq war…
While we would like an Iraqi national movement — binding Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis — to coalesce, we don’t want it coalescing in opposition to us. Running against the continued U.S. presence in Iraq will be a very tempting campaign theme [...]

“This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”
- John McCain in Rochester, New Hampshire yesterday
Joe [...]

This strategy would do so many good things for McCain’s campaign. It would render moot Obama’s single strongest issue against McCain. It puts McCain on the same side as the majority of American voters. It creates space between McCain and Bush. It makes it easy for independents, moderates, and libertarians to vote for McCain on the basis of maintaining the checks and balances of divided government.

So, the New York Times has just rejected an op-ed piece from John McCain on the Iraq war. The paper said the piece was too focused on criticizing Barack Obama and, before they could publish such an essay, McCain would need to specifically address: “a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables [...]

And this time, just so there’s no confusion, they say it in English.

So…is this definitive enough for all of you who’ve been doubting that Maliki meant sooner rather than later? Is the word “timetable” specific enough?
Meanwhile, Obama is talking about a timetable that specifically states we would get out by 2010, and McCain has hinted [...]

On two separate occasions, two different interpreters have taken what the Iraqi Prime Minister has said so far out of context that it basically meant the opposite?
Hmmm…
“U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months,” he said in an interview with Der Spiegel that was released Saturday.
“That, we think, would be the right time frame [...]

Okay, now we have an official statement…
“Let’s be clear, the only reason that the conversation about reducing troop levels in Iraq is happening is because John McCain challenged the failed Rumsfield-strategy in Iraq and argued for the surge strategy that is responsible for the successes we’ve achieved and which Barack Obama opposed.
Unlike Barack Obama, [...]

I just posted about the new “time horizon” that the US and Iraq have agreed to, and in that post I mentioned that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki endorsed Obama’s 16 month timetable, calling it “closer to reality.”
Also, take note of the following statement from Maliki…
“The Americans have found it difficult to agree on a [...]

Is a time horizon a timeline? Well, not really. But a time horizon is what comes right before a timeline is set. So what the news finally represents is an acknowledgement that, at some point in the future, the US will have to leave.
From NY Times:
The agreement, announced in coordinated statements released Friday by the [...]

“I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy.”
- McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann on how Obama is like…Bush?
I guess Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Malki is like Bush too since he’s insisting on a timetable?
Ahh, politics…