Obama le candidat est en tourn\u00e9e parmi nous (on veut dire : the Rest Of the World<\/em>). Il passe en Irak, ce qui va de soi. Il rencontre un Maliki qui nous surprend tous, car c’est bien de Maliki dont nous voulons parler. Maliki s’affirme de plus en plus comme un acteur \u00e0 part enti\u00e8re, une marionnette reconvertie dans l’habilet\u00e9 manuvri\u00e8re pour manipuler son colossal conqu\u00e9rant devenu une sorte de Gulliver ligot\u00e9 et sans id\u00e9e bien pr\u00e9cise. Voici ce qu’\u00e9crit Patrick Cockburn, le 21 juillet<\/a>, du Premier ministre Maliki:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abHowever, even if government claims to have won a military victory are overblown, its recent successes have important political consequences for itself as well as for Mr Obama and Mr McCain. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki is confident, even over-confident, according to his allies. Before the government offensive in Basra in late March most of the political parties in the government had agreed that Maliki had to go because he was ineffective, said one Iraqi political commentator. But since the attack succeeded, Maliki has become so arrogant that he has stopped paying attention to anybody outside his small inner circle.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tAujourd’hui, l’attitude de Maliki, notamment vis-\u00e0-vis des Am\u00e9ricains, est presque protectrice et compatissante. Le Premier ministre irakien ne cesse d’en rajouter sur sa principale exigence: le retrait US d’Irak. D’o\u00f9 son interview \u00e0 Spiegel<\/em>, le 19 juillet<\/a>, avec le fameux passage o\u00f9 Maliki soutient ouvertement la candidature d’Obama<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tSpiegel<\/em><\/strong>: Immunity for the US troops is apparently the central issue.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tMaliki<\/em><\/strong>: It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population. But other issues are no less important: How much longer will these soldiers remain in our country? How much authority do they have? Who controls how many, soldiers enter and leave the country and where they do so?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tSpiegel<\/em><\/strong>: Would you hazard a prediction as to when most of the US troops will finally leave Iraq?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tMaliki<\/em><\/strong>: As soon as possible, as far as we’re concerned. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tSpiegel<\/em><\/strong>: Is this an endorsement for the US presidential election in November? Does Obama, who has no military background, ultimately have a better understanding of Iraq than war hero John McCain?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tMaliki<\/em><\/strong>: Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans’ business. But it’s the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that’s where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Plut\u00f4t dur pour McCain Sur son blog<\/em> de The Atlantic<\/em>, le 19 juillet<\/a>, Mark Ambinder rapporte les r\u00e9actions officielles et officieuses du camp McCain. Entre le I’m confident<\/em> de McCain et le We’re fucked<\/em> d’un de ses conseillers, le lecteur fera son choix.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abVia e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, We’re fucked. No response yet from the McCain campaign, although here’s what McCain said the last time Maliki mentioned withdrawal: Since we are succeeding, then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about, since he has told me that for many meetings we’ve had.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t La porte-parole de Maliki, sous la pression de la Maison-Blanche, a fait une d\u00e9claration qui est un assez \u00e9trange d\u00e9menti, o\u00f9 l’on parle vaguement de faute de traduction (selon CNN.NEWS<\/em> le \t\u00abObama is pleased, but McCain certainly is not. In an interview with Spiegel, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki expressed support for Obama’s troop withdrawal plans. Despite a half-hearted retraction, the comments have stirred up the US presidential campaign.<\/em> Spiegel stands by its version of the conversation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t()<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbA number of media outlets likewise professed to being confused by the statement from Maliki’s office. The New York Times pointed out that al-Dabbagh’s statement did not address a specific error. CBS likewise expressed disbelief pointing out that Maliki mentions a timeframe for withdrawal three times in the interview and then asks, how likely is it that Spiegel mistranslated three separate comments? Matthew Yglesias, a blogger for the Atlantic Monthly, was astonished by how little effort was made to make the Baghdad denial convincing. And the influential blog IraqSlogger also pointed out the lack of specifics in the government statement.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n