Maliki NOT OK with Obama’s Withdrawal Plan

Hat tip Real Debate.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government’s spokesman said on Sunday.

Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that Maliki’s remarks to Der Spiegel were translated incorrectly.

1. And from MSNBC…......a bit more information.

   Then, throwing a wrench into this entire story, Maliki’s government walked back his comments—although only somewhat. The government’s official spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said that Maliki’s words had been misunderstood and mistranslated and were not conveyed accurately. Al-Dabbagh explained that Mr. al-Maliki confirmed the existence of an Iraqi vision stems from the reality with regard to Iraq security needs, as the positive developments of the security situation and the improvement witnessed in Iraqi cities makes the subject of U.S. forces’ withdrawal within prospects, horizons, and timetables agreed upon and in the light of the continuing positive developments on the ground.

   As NBC’s Chuck Todd noted on Meet the Press this morning, it is significant that the Iraqi government mentioned “timetables’ in its statement walking back the Der Spiegel interview.

   Posted by Gregory on July 20, 2008 at 2107 hrs




2. The statement was sent out by the press desk of the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq.

   http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566 914,00.html

   Hat tip: REALITY

   But then again,

   http://shop.spiegel.de/shop/action/productDetails/co ver;jsessionid=fdc-wbz1d2acti5.www13?aUrl=90009999&artiId;=4 910557

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 0516 hrs




3. Over the last year, I’ve noticed a lot of mis-translation or misunderstanding of Arabic speakers in the media.  I’m just starting to study Arabic, so my knowledge of the language is minimal.  Does anyone here know why Arabic seems so prone to mis-translation (or multiple meanings), so much more so than Spanish, German, etc.?

   Posted by Jed on July 21, 2008 at 0519 hrs




4. In other words, let’s just agree that Maliki and the rest of the Iraqi government says whatever supports our position.

   Everybody wins.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 0609 hrs




5. Does anyone here know why Arabic seems so prone to mis-translation (or multiple meanings), so much more so than Spanish, German, etc.?

   The same reason that Baracks version of English and the rest of ours is so different?

   Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on July 21, 2008 at 0746 hrs




6. It appears that the translation provided to der Spiegel was by Maliki’s translator and that Maliki was provided a transcript for approval.

   There was no translation error until the current administration asked for clarification.  There was no misunderstanding until our current government needed one.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 0805 hrs




7. There was no translation error until the current administration asked for clarification.  There was no misunderstanding until our current government needed one.

   So in other words grumps its GW’s fault?

   Gimme a break!

   Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on July 21, 2008 at 0823 hrs




8. Here is a case of the audacity of hope on the right wing.

   Don’t ya think there was just a leeeetle pressure on Al Maliki from the Bush administration? After all, this crime family is wrapping up it’s eighth season and there is some expectation of a big finale.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 0848 hrs




9. Leave it to the moonbats to change the focus from His Most High Obamaship’s stupidity to “It’s Bush’s fault”.

   BDS does that to you, I guess.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 0928 hrs




10. Sorry, Cheaney.  That’s what it looks like to the 65% of the world that’s tracking reality these days.

    Why do you think the “clarification” came from CentCom instead of the Iraqi government?

    al-Maliki said what he said.  Deal with it.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 1018 hrs




11. Yeah, Bush lovers, he had nothing to do with this.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 1049 hrs




12. My partner is a language professor at the college and he speaks often of not being able to translate exactly a text from one language to another due to the lack of no one-to-one equivalence in the target langauge.  In Arabic this is often the case, and therefore issues can often arise as a result.

    Posted by Gregory on July 21, 2008 at 1049 hrs




13. To thse alleging US interference prompted the change, note that the original der Spiegel translation tracked the latest revised translation.  It was a second translation that omitted the key phrase, and which was latched onto by the left.

    Posted by Jed on July 21, 2008 at 1110 hrs




14. The statement that he did agree was on page 1 everywhere. The fact that he actually didn’t agree is on page 27B…

    If this was McCain - you could have reversed that.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 1122 hrs




15. Der Spiegel stands by their story.

    They state:

    In the interview, Maliki expressed support of Obama’s plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. “That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of changes.”
    Maliki was quick to back away from an outright endorsement of Obama, saying “who they choose as their president is the Americans’ business.” But he then went on to say: “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.”

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 21, 2008 at 2018 hrs