White House Gaffe Causes Waves

Yesterday a White House clerk had inadvertently sent an email out to the wrong distribution list, which has become the source of much controversy. The story was a transcript released from a German magazine that conducted an interview with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki. In the story, Prime Minister Maliki seems to embrace Senator Barack Obama’s 16 month withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, a position the Bush administration firmly opposes. The recent gaffe adds to much of the controversy being stirred up around Iraq-U.S. relations about U.S. troops on Iraqi soil.

 The original story prompted an unusual response from a prominent Republican strategist:

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fucked."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/almalikis_announcement_a_big_d.php

Earlier this week President Bush announced an agreement on a proposed “time horizon,” which he asserts is not a timetable. The “time horizon” agreement comes on the heels of Iraqi parliamentary debate over the presence of U.S. forces. Below is the story on the White House gaffe.

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine."

The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months … ‘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,'" the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

The misfire comes at an odd time for Bush foreign policy, at a time when Obama's campaign alleges the president is moving closer toward Obama's recommendations about international relations -- sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, discussing a "general time horizon" for U.S. troop withdrawal and launching talks with Iran.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/white-house-acc.html

Today, an Iraqi official came forward and retracted the statement made by the Prime Minister, saying his comments were misinterpreted. The link for the full transcript and video is provided.

 SPIEGEL: Would you hazard a prediction as to when most of the US troops will finally leave Iraq?

Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. US presidential candidate Barack Obama is right when he talks about 16 months. Assuming that positive developments continue, this is about the same time period that corresponds to our wishes.

SPIEGEL: 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?

Maliki: 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.

 http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-47553