Liberty Reborn

It can be enlightening to watch how the media spins remarks to try and paint Barack Obama in a better light.  Take for example the Iraq War and the troops that are remaining there at this time while Iraq continues to get on its feet:

(CNN)– A German magazine quoted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikias saying that he backed a proposalby presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months.

“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 for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,” he said.

But a spokesman for al-Maliki said his remarks “were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately.”

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the possibility of troop withdrawal was based on the continuance of security improvements, echoing statements that the White House made Friday after a meeting between al-Maliki and U.S. President Bush.

It should be noted that Al-Maliki is STILL supporting the strategy proposed by President Bush which is that as the situation betters itself, American troops will come home. This is NOT the same as Barack Obama’s plans which amounts to a policy that he does not care what the situation is and that he wants the troops home on a fixed time table.

But the initial story will be useful to liberals who actually think that there is an imperialist effort underway in Iraq and the President Bush does not want to see American soldiers come home but rather occupy Iraq.

This is not the first such attempt at the news media attempting to spin Al-Maliki’s position. Previously just a little over a week ago, the AP attempted this same story.

In this article, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, spelled out that the President’s plan was always that troops would be withdrawn from Iraq as security improves:

“We’d all like to see U.S. troops get out of here at some point in time,” Mullen said. “However, from a military perspective I need the laws and the regulations and the agreements from the government of Iraq in order to continue operations beyond the 31st of December of this year.”

So really there has not been much change in anyone’s position that I can see.

Of course the reason for all this huffing over such comments is because, as The Source reported, information has been circulating around Congress that the situation is so vastly improved that accelerated troop draw downs was a possibility.

In the end, the policy for those that believe in liberty (and the Iraqis as well) has been win the war and improve security and bring the troops home as that happens. For liberals the problem is now that that is happening, how do they spin it as a victory for themselves even though they have opposed the effort nearly every step of the way!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 am and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.