Obama tried to sway Iraqis on Bush deal

Obama tried to sway Iraqis on Bush deal

washingtontimes.com

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.

Mr. Obama's conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate's contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.

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[edit on 9-10-2008 by bknapple32]
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Mod Edit: Title fixed to reflect original article
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[edit on 10/10/2008 by Badge01]

In the interest of being fair. Though many think i am otherwise. I find this story disturbing if true. The times is very republican . But I cant think they would just make this all up. Theres a differeing view on what happened by the obama camp....

from the story... mods please quote below as the handy dandy external quote button isnt working.

Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari's request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.

However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.

"In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.

He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. "The new administration will have a free hand to opt out," he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.

Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward. -------



Scary if true. And could be a game changer

washingtontimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

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Mod Edit: Title fixed to reflect original article


[edit on 10/10/2008 by Badge01]

From an impartial viewpoint I give it credibility. Obama knew that if an agreement was reached this would basically nullify Iraq as an issue. An issue that made him popular. If you notice since they started working on that agreement Obama basically quit talking about Iraq. With a pending agreement that included troop withdrawal, Obama no longer had need to campaign about withdrawing the troops. If it hadn't happened he would still be arguing for the troop withdrawal. I think a rep in his position would probably try the same thing. The bad part is that is undermining the President. Don't think he would he would like it if somebody did the same thing if he was President.

I think that there is going to be some more game changers in the future. I hear that Sean Hannity is going to have some info on Obama this Sunday. I have relatives in Chicago that have been yelling at the top of their lungs that we don't need him for president even before he got the nomination.

Well Id trust the times over sean hannity. And if it really was that big, why not release it now? Simple.. for ratings. People will tune in, and nothing new will be dropped. If it was really big, hed come out and say it now.

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago, just now hitting the press? What's up with the delay?