One indication that Iraq may actually be evolving into a democracy is that its Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seems to be emerging as a genuine “pol” of the type we are used to in the West. His interview with Der Spiegel is right out of the conventional politician playbook, right up to the non-denial denial about taking sides in the US election. This too sounds like a “talking point” from one of our Sunday morning “Sabbath gasbags”: “The Americans have found it difficult to agree on a concrete timetable for the exit because it seems like an admission of defeat to them. But it isn’t.” Ah… democracy. What did Churchill say about it?
Roger L. Simon
Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror
BUY HERE IN HARDCOVER- BUY HERE ON KINDLE! New radio: Fred Thompson Show, Hugh Hewitt on PJTV (first of five-parter). YouTube version of Roger on BookTV (After Words) with Armstrong Williams - here. Video: Roger on Greg Gutfeld's Red Eye. Reviews so far: Lloyd Billingsley @ FrontPage, Ron Radosh in the National Review, Sonny Bunch in the Washington Times, Andrew Klavan in City Journal, Marty Dodge in Blogcritics, Tod Goldberg in LV City Life, John Hinderaker in Powerline. Lone Star Times, Mark Coffey at Informed Speculation, John Ruberry at Marathon Pundit, Dan Blatt at Gay Patriot. First syndication Commentary. Advance comments from Michael Barone, John Podhoretz and Ron Silver. Podcasts: Milt Rosenberg Show, John J. Miller - National Review, Ed Driscoll - Sirius Radio. Video review by Bernard Chapin. FrontPage Interview w/ Jamie Glazov. Join the Facebook group. BUY HARDCOVER! - BUY KINDLE!
PJM HomeRoger L Simon
The blog of the mystery writer, screenwriter and CEO of Pajamas Media
Just Published
 With gratitude to the readers of this blog without whom my new -- and first non-fiction -- book would likely never have been written.
Simon's first non-fiction book - Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror - Pub. date: February 5, 2009 |
Books
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
13 Comments
1. PSGInfinity:Roger,
When you get back, could you fix/reenable/point out where your RSS feed link is? Thanks!
Jul 19, 2008 - 10:37 am 2. Jay:Churchill’s riff on democracy was that the best argument against it is “five minutes with the average voter.” The thing is, Maliki is not the average voter…
Jul 19, 2008 - 11:46 am 3. Terrye:This is what Maliki said:
Assuming that positive developments continue, this is about the same time period that corresponds to our wishes.
****
Now that is not a strong endorsement of timetables, he is just saying that Obama’s time frame is not far off what they would like. Well, 16 months from Jan 2009 is April 2010.
A couple of days ago, Bush and Maliki agreed to another kind of timetable, based on events rather than concrete dates. I think they called it a “times horizon” schedule or something like that. Joe Biden responded by saying Bush had shifted his position. Of course he had not, and of course Obama has. Obama was calling for the same timeline before the surge. Maliki was definitely supportive of that.
One thing about it, in this article Maliki states that the war has done far more good for Iraq than harm.
Jul 19, 2008 - 12:13 pm 4. Terrye:I should have said Maliki was definitely NOT supportive of a timeline for withdrawal before the surge. Got ahead of myself there.
Jul 19, 2008 - 12:15 pm 5. Roger L Simon:Actually I meant: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” But Churchill said a lot of things (this one in front of Parliament in 1947).
Jul 19, 2008 - 12:23 pm 6. Barry Dauphin:CNN headline says Iraqi Prime Minister reportedly backs Obama plan.
It’s going to be a cute election season.
Jul 19, 2008 - 2:36 pm 7. Steve J.:Obama 1 McCain NIL
Jul 19, 2008 - 3:29 pm 8. Terrye:Barry:
It is Saturday, who cares? But really, what a position to be in. Maliki knows that Obama might be the next President. He can not just tell him to go to hell or call him an idiot or whatever. He might have to deal with him. At the same time he can not come out and tell the Iraqi people that he can not provide security for them and so the Americans must stay until whenever. He is stuck in our election.
Jul 19, 2008 - 4:58 pm 9. Jay:This is tricky here. First, Maliki said this in reference to withdrawal: “As soon as possible, as far as we’re concerned.”
“As soon as possible.” Sounds like beating feet to me, no?
Then: “Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.”
Notice that, while he did send out a deputy to backtrack a bit, Maliki did not retract any of what he originally said. Furthermore, even if coalition forces get the violence in Iraq down to a manageable level (and it seems they have), McCain has never spoken like someone who expects a “limited” tenure of coalition troops. He wants them there even after violence is manageable. I can understand that from a Liberal interventionit viewpoint, but I don’t think it’s what Maliki’s asking for.
All told, a setback for the McCain team.
Jul 19, 2008 - 5:29 pm 10. Terrye:Jay:
Obama is talking about a strike force of thousands of men, neither candidate is talking about removing all Americans. They are talking about combat troops in the streets, etc. That does not mean there will not be any Americans in Iraq.
And according to CNN, Maliki is now saying his meaning was not conveyed accurately. It was a just a short time ago that the BBC misreported what he said with a bad translation, maybe this was something of the same kind of thing.
Jul 19, 2008 - 6:21 pm 11. Terrye:And remember this is Obama, he might have said anything to Maliki, kind of like the whole NAFTA/Canadian thing. Over heated rhetoric and all that.
Jul 19, 2008 - 6:24 pm 12. Terrye:So it seems this was just another media screw up.
Jul 20, 2008 - 11:06 am 13. qrstuv:If the press reported Maliki accurately and thoroughly (as prominently as they reported their “version” about what he said), this would be a setback for Obama.
Jul 21, 2008 - 6:14 am