siamesedreamer
Banned
According to senior Iraqi officials, the decision to play U.S. politics emerged last month after Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari's trip to Washington for meetings with Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Obama and Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee.
The visit took place as the U.S. and Iraq were negotiating rules that would govern the American military presence in Iraq once the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
The talks had bogged down over U.S. demands for extensive basing rights, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law for U.S. soldiers and private contractors.
In the past, the Iraqis would have bowed to American pressure. This time, they saw an option in Obama, a longtime critic of the war. They could press for a short-term agreement with the administration and take their chances with a new president _ Obama or McCain.
Also, the Iraqis could flirt with Obama's withdrawal timetable, increasing pressure on Bush to cut a deal more favorable to them.
With the talks bogged down, the Iraqis sensed desperation by the Americans to wrap up a deal quickly before the presidential campaign was in full swing.
"Let's squeeze them," al-Maliki told his advisers, who related the conversation to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The squeeze came July 7, when al-Maliki announced in Abu Dhabi that Iraq wanted the base deal to include some kind of timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops. The prime minister also proposed a short-term interim memorandum of agreement rather than the more formal status of forces agreement the two sides had been negotiating.
Talk of a full agreement fell by the wayside in favor of a short-term memorandum.
More significantly, the White House agreed this past week to a "general time horizon" for withdrawing American troops _ short of a firm timetable but a dramatic shift from the administration's refusal to accept any deadline for ending the mission in Iraq.
AP
Fascinating...
The result is that McCain's campaign has been cut off at the knees. Its completely devastating. I would go so far as to say there is no way he can recover and that this election is now over. Hopefully the defeat is large enough so that McCain's forthcoming veep choice of Romney has no shot at the nomination in '12.