Whose Side Is He On?

There is a video going around about Senator ∅'s interference with American foreign policy in Iraq. So I thought I'd look into the matter.

It seems like Senator ∅ has taken a crash course in order to gain foreign policy expertise. One minor problem. The course is crashing.

The Obama campaign spent more than five hours on Monday attempting to figure out the best refutation of the explosive New York Post report that quoted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying that Barack Obama during his July visit to Baghdad demanded that Iraq not negotiate with the Bush Administration on the withdrawal of American troops. Instead, he asked that they delay such negotiations until after the presidential handover at the end of January.

The three problems, according to campaign sources: The report was true, there were at least three other people in the room with Obama and Zebari to confirm the conversation, and there was concern that there were enough aggressive reporters based in Baghdad with the sources to confirm the conversation that to deny the comments would create a bigger problem.

Instead, Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi told reporters that Obama told the Iraqis that they should not rush through what she termed a "Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of U.S. forces until after President Bush left office. In other words, the Iraqis should not negotiate an American troop withdrawal.

According to a Senate staffer working for Sen. Joseph Biden, Biden himself got involved in the shaping of the statement. "The whole reason he's on the ticket is the foreign policy insight," explained the staffer.

What a howler. Joe Biden a foreign policy expert.

And Candidate ∅ calling for troop withdrawals in America and trying to delay them in Iraq.

How about that New York Post article?

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says.

Well what do you know. The Iraqis would rather be running their own country instead of having a Junior Senator from Illinois running it. It is almost like they favor self government over foreign rule. I thought the lefties were saying that self government in the Middle East was impossible. I think the evidence points to the contrary. It appears it is rather robust and in fact so robust that they have rolled Senator ∅.

Speaking of lefties. I appears that the Demthuglies are out in force on this issue.

The real news I see in the Obama statement is that there may be an encouraging evolution in his position on Iraq: The "rebuttal" shows that the senator no longer shares his party leadership's belief that the United States has lost the war in Iraq.

He now talks of "the prospect of lasting success," perhaps hoping that his own administration would inherit the kudos. And he makes no mention of his running mate Joe Biden's pet project for carving Iraq into three separate states. He has even abandoned his earlier claim that toppling Saddam Hussein was "illegal" and admits that the US-led coalition's presence in Iraq has a legal framework in the shape of the UN mandate.

In his statement on my Post article, Obama no longer talks of "withdrawal" but of "redeployment" and "drawdown" - which is exactly what is happening in Iraq now.

While I am encouraged by the senator's evolution, I must also appeal to him to issue a "cease and desist" plea to the battalions of his sympathizers - who have been threatening me with death and worse in the days since my article appeared.

And that is not the only place the Demthuglies have been out in force. It seems they still don't like Milt Rosenberg.

Rosenberg's producer, Zack Christenson, e-mailed National Review's Corner with this message:

Tonight, we have David Freddoso on our show discussing his new book. As we speak, thousands of Obama supporters are flooding our phone lines and e-mail boxes, just as they did for our show with Stanley Kurtz. An Obama Action Wire was sent out tonight to intimidate us into taking Freddoso off the air.

I caught the last twenty minutes of Extension 720. I'll download the podcast as soon as it is available.

The first thing I heard when I tuned in was a female caller who identified herself as a journalism student. She started reciting obvious Obama-nut talking points, when Rosenberg--a very calm man by the way--interrupted and asked, "Did you receive that e-mail and are you quoting from it?"

She responded that she had, but was adding her own insight. She then went on to tell the longtime host of the program that she supports Obama because he "simultaneously represents integrity and class."

The Obama campaign has nothing to do with integrity and class. The first attempted disruption of Rosenberg's program could have been written off the work of a rogue staffer. But this time, uh-uh, no way, not a chance. The Obama campaign...no, make that Obama himself has to answer for their intrusion on free discourse.

And just in case you were wondering about the book being discussed. Here it is with a link to Amazon so you can check it out. The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate

In any case I seem to recall that this kind of political behavior was well known in history. So well known that it had a name. Storm something I think.

H/T Just One Minute.

Cross Posted at Classical Values