Tuesday, September 16, 2008

 

Worst Political Denial in American History

As reported by Amir Taheri, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebarihas stated the following about Senator Obama's visit in July: "[Obama] asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement [regarding draw-down of the American military presence] until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington."

Here is an account of the denial of the statement by some previously unknown lackey at the Obama campaign. Money quotes:
Barack Obama's White House campaign angrily denied Monday a report that he had secretly urged the Iraqis to postpone a deal to withdraw US troops until after November's election.
[...]
But Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Taheri's article bore "as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial."

In fact, Obama had told the Iraqis that they should not rush through a "Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of US forces until after President George W. Bush leaves office, she said.

One more time for the slightly slow.

Zebarihas: "[Obama] asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington."

Morigi: "...Obama had told the Iraqis that they should not rush through a "Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of US forces until after President George W. Bush leaves office."

I can't find anything more to say that's not venomous invective against Morigi's intelligence.

Labels: ,


Comments:
Logan Act, anyone?
 
Never used against a legislator in history. They'll not start now.
 
Ben Smith has the quote:

An Obama aide accused Taheri of confusing the Status of Forces agreement with a Strategic Framework Agreement, for which Obama has pushed for congressional review.

"This article bears as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial. Barack Obama has consistently called for any Strategic Framework Agreement to be submitted to the U.S. Congress so that the American people have the same opportunity for review as the Iraqi Parliament," said Obama spokeswoman Wendy Morigi. "Unlike John McCain, he supports a clear timetable to redeploy our troops that has the support of the Iraqi government. Barack Obama has never urged a delay in negotiations, nor has he urged a delay in immediately beginning a responsible drawdown of our combat brigades."

No mention of "after...leaves office". I am slow - I don't understand the bit about confusing the SOFA with the SFA. (we don't have either, do we?)

"venomous invective" - nice alliteration, despite the redundancy! You have to love "as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial." What did happen to the "straight talk express" - did he just mean he wasn't going to talk about gays!
 
Never used against a legislator in history. They'll not start now.

That's more or less what I said in a comment about this on another blog. Much as I hate to say it, the Republicans won't press this because of the precedent it would set and that it could later be used against them when the roles are reversed.
 
I think the Logan Act was primarily for civilian volunteers mucking about in our foreign affairs anyway, but you are right about not setting an example. Mark, of course the Framework Agreement will be submitted to Congress but it's not a confusion issue, it's that Obama is undermining the Executive's exclusive role as the negotiator of treaties and other foreign agreements. He seems to be doing in secret the exact opposite (delaying an agreement which necessarily involves sending troops home) of what he public espouses (bringing them home now) and then his minions lie about the truth of the charge in a way that confirms the truth of Tehari's prose. If you get to vote now, you need to open your eyes to reality.
 
Ah, Reality, the ultimate persuader! Trouble is, we’re all Kantians when it comes to political reality – neither you nor I have access to it, only to the reports of others. (Or were you actually with Obama (or Zebari) in Iraq?). So it comes down to what we feel about the trustworthiness of the reporter. According to you, “his minions lie about the truth of the charge in a way that confirms the truth of Tehari's prose.” Well, there’s a circularity – the truth of the prose implies the minions’ words are lies which thus confirms the truth of the prose. Well, if the report were accurate, the minions would have a motive to lie about it, I guess, but then Tehari has a history of inaccurate reporting and I could (but I won’t) equally validly claim he writes in a way that confirms the truth of the minions. So who to believe?

You’ll be glad to hear I shall not be getting to vote in this election – the reality is I need to get my citizenship of this great country.
 
If your wife accuses your child of eating a bunch of cookies and he or she says, "I did not, I only ate two," do you doubt your wife's account? Just asking. Immanuel Kant was a real piss-ant...
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?