Word: maliki
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...focuses on the end of the Iraq conflict - on "timetables," "timelines" or, in the Orwellian Newspeak of the White House, "joint aspirational time horizons." Whatever the language and whatever translations are used, the conversation is changing. Both the White House and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, now publicly talk about temporal goals. Last week al-Maliki even declared a preference for Obama's 16-month redeployment plan - though his spokesman subsequently issued a vague, none-too-convincing clarification stating that the Prime Minister had been misunderstood. In response to al-Maliki's controversial statement to the German newsmagazine...
...withdrawal] is an exaggeration." Leila Mohammed, a housewife in Baghdad's Karrada district, also shrugged at the significance of the visit, the first Obama will make to the war zone since clinching the Democratic nomination. "There is no need for Obama to meet [Iraq's Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki until after he has been elected," she said...
...Obeid and Mohammed aren't the only ones who feel that way. Maliki also appears uncertain of just how warmly to welcome the Democratic candidate at this stage in the U.S. presidential campaign. Despite the Iraqi leader's recent call for a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal - not a far cry from Obama's pledge to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months of being elected - it remains unclear whether Obama and Maliki will even meet this week...
...Saturday, the Prime Minister jolted Washington when a German magazine, Der Spiegel, published comments from an interview in which he seemed to back the Democratic candidate's call for a 16-month timetable. Der Spiegel quoted Maliki as saying "U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." But the comments came a day after Maliki and the White House agreed more vaguely to negotiate a "time horizon" for a continued U.S. troop presence in the country, and Sunday saw the Prime...
...White House, which has been in talks with the Iraqi government over the long-term Status of Forces Agreement, and Republican candidate John McCain have long stressed their opposition to a specific timetable, arguing that it gives insurgent groups an advantage. In recent days, though, as Maliki has become more candid about his desire for a withdrawal, both the Bush Administration and McCain have signaled an (albeit reluctant) acceptance that the U.S. departure will come years sooner rather than decades later. Many Iraqis, however, think they should stick with their original positions: "It's too early to withdraw because security...