Lost in translation, Maliki says the Bush plan is still the one

CNN:

A German magazine quoted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as saying that he backed a proposal by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months," he said in an interview with Der Spiegel that was released Saturday.

"That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes," he said.

But a spokesman for al-Maliki said his remarks "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately."

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the possibility of troop withdrawal was based on the continuance of security improvements, echoing statements that the White House made Friday after a meeting between al-Maliki and U.S. President Bush.

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I think the media tends to get too wrapped up in the numbers and misses the nuance they are usually so fond of. The restated Maliki position is essentially the same as President Bush--conditioned based on improved security. It is a position that makes so much more sense that Obama's damn the torpedoes we were going to stick to our time table approach.

The Obama approach reminds me of a night compass march we did in OCS where one candidate kept the azimuth on a compass while another counted the paces they were moving in the given direction. Unfortunately for one candidate who was counting the paces he fell into a hole. As he was yelling for someone to get him out his "partner" responded to his cries for help with "No, I'll lose my azimuth." Fortunately, I and my partner came to the guys aid. It sounds like Obama would just think the guys misfortune was a "distraction." Sometimes leadership shows by how you deal with the distractions.