CentCom pushes Maliki walkback

By Libby

As expected, the Iraqi government tried to mitigate yesterday's bombshell of the Der Spiegel interview with Maliki where he effectively endorsed Obama's Iraq plan. But I get the feeling their heart isn't really into it. It's clearly a US driven psyop.

Update II: Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, issued a statement saying Mr. Maliki’s statement had been “as not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama, U.S. presidential candidate, on the timeframe for U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq,” but it did not address a specific error. It did soften his support for Mr. Obama’s plan and implied a more tentative approach to withdrawing troops. More of the statement, which came from the U.S. military’s Central Command press office...

Meanwhile, stands by their interview and further notes:

Other major newspapers in Baghdad on Sunday, including the government affiliated al-Sabah, the independent daily al-Mashriq and Iraq's leading paper al-Zaman quote the SPIEGEL interview at length. There is no mention of al-Dabbagh's statement denying Maliki's support of Obama's withdrawal plans, but it may have come after the papers went to press.

More likely, they will never mention it if they don't have to. The original message plays well in Baghdad and is exactly what Maliki needs to shore up his own tattered political standings at home. The Iraqi people want us out and he needs to at least appear to be standing up for that position.