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Sunday, July 20, 2008

al-Maliki Spokesman About Spiegel Interview- his remarks 'were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately.'

The buzz yesterday was about an interview that Speigel did with the Prime Minister of Iraq, al-Maliki, where they said he agreed with Barack Obama's 16 month troop withdrawal plan, with caveats of course.

Hot Air noticed that Speigel published one version then actually changed part of the interview yesterday and today we see, via CNN, that a spokesman for al-Maliki issued a statement saying that his words were "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately."

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.


Well at least Speigel gave the far left something to do yesterday...

[Update] Bloomberg also headlines with "Maliki Doesn't Endorse Obama Troop Withdrawal Plan"

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hasn't endorsed any specific plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a government spokesman said, a day after a magazine report that he backed Barack Obama's proposal.

Al-Maliki supports a ``general vision'' of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and has not backed a plan by Obama, the presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, for a 16- month withdrawal window, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in an e-mailed statement in Baghdad today.

Al-Maliki was quoted in an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine published on its Web site yesterday as saying Obama's plan is ``the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.''

Comments al-Maliki made to the magazine were ``misunderstood and mistranslated'' and were not ``conveyed accurately,'' al- Dabbagh said in the statement.


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