The news story:
At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.
Mr. Obama’s conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate’s contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.
Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office – a charge the Democratic campaign denies.
Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari’s request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.
However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.
“In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place,” said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States.
He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. “The new administration will have a free hand to opt out,” he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.
Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward.
The call was not recorded by either side, and Mr. Zebari did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail messages requesting direct comment.
Whether this was an attempt to some how derail American victory in Iraq or just the arrogance of an out-of-touch man with a messiah complex is not a judgment I can render – but I can state that any such action by Obama was amazingly irresponsible and, indeed, would harm any ability he had to shape policy for Iraq, supposing he wins the election. Rather than having a breathing space where Iraqis would wonder what comes next and try to make things as smooth as possible for Obama, the Iraqis will now have an incentive to dump the American connection as soon as possible as they must know they are dealing with a man who is clueless in world affairs and cannot be relied upon.
Obama is the man who thinks that US troops are air-raiding villages and killing civilians. Why does he believe this? Because it is what he’s been told and he lacks sufficient knowledge and experience to tell the difference between the truth and enemy propaganda. The fact that a man this out to lunch retains such a clearly high opinion of himself is also very disturbing – raised to the White House, what we’ll have is a marriage of despotism and incompetence. America will get to see what its like to be governed by a man who knows nothing but thinks he knows all.
The United States – carried forward by the people of the United States – will survive Obama, should he win…but he’ll be a terrible tragedy for the United States, and a major danger for the world…a world which only has any peace or freedom at all because the United States secures it by its might. Liberty is a frail flower protected by the sword and shield of the United States – Obama thinks its a thing threatened by the United States, and conversations with thugs and meetings with the UN will win the day. That this benighted knave has managed to advance so far is testimony to the the ability of millions to swallow whatever lies are spoon fed to them by an elite class determined to rule at all costs – that he still hasn’t been able to close the deal is testimony to the fact that courage and common-sense are still strong in the United States…who wins next month will tell us if the wise or the gullible are able to triumph at the polls.
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