Saturday, July 19, 2008

Did Maliki really endorse ... nah

If only this is true ...

One doesn't normally consider the German magazine Der Spiegel to be a reliable resource on much of everything, especially when it has a content to advertising ratio of 2:1. According to the English edition of the rag, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki says that a 16-month withdrawal plan as pushed by Barack Obama may be the right one. While he made clear he's not endorsing anyone for US President, he said that the indefinite timetable suggested by John McCain is problematic.

Let's presume for a moment the story is accurate.

Whatever appearance may be created by the alleged "success" of the "surge," the fact is the longer the US and its allies stay in Iraq the longer the civil war is going to go on and that continues the drain on the world economy and helps keep oil prices high. While it is encouraging that oil above $125 is getting people to make wiser choices, the fact is the US government won't even be able to fund the shift to greener sources as long as it borrows money from Mainland China and Singapore (dictatorships) to fund a war in a country with a "democratic" and "independent" govvernment in everything but name.

I'll demur to Josh Marshall on this one for further comment; but it definitely puts McCain on the spot.

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