pBills

Posted on Drudge: IRAQ MAY SET TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWAL Mon Jul 7, 2008 12:45pm EDT By Dean Yates and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington. It was the first time the U.S.-backed Shi'ite-led government has floated the idea of a timetable for the removal of American forces from Iraq. The Bush administration has always opposed such a move, saying it would give militant groups an advantage. The security deal under negotiation will replace a U.N. mandate for the presence of U.S. troops that expires on December 31. "Today, we are looking at the necessity of terminating the foreign presence on Iraqi lands and restoring full sovereignty," Maliki told Arab ambassadors in blunt remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. "One of the two basic topics is either to have a memorandum of understanding for the departure of forces or a memorandum of understanding to set a timetable for the presence of the forces, so that we know (their presence) will end in a specific time." Maliki was responding to questions from the ambassadors about the security negotiations with the United States. The exchange was shown on Iraqiya state television. U.S. officials in Baghdad had no immediate comment. Last month Maliki caught Washington off guard when he said talks on the security deal were at a "dead end" after he complained Iraq's sovereignty was being infringed by U.S. demands. Both sides later said progress was being made. Maliki said the Iraqi and U.S. positions had gotten closer, but added "we cannot talk about reaching an agreement yet". He said foreign forces would need Iraqi permission for many of their activities once the U.N. mandate ended. "This means the phenomena of unilateral detention will be over, as well as unilateral operations and immunity," he said. Maliki did not clarify who the immunity referred to. Officials have said contractors working for the U.S. government would lose immunity from Iraqi law, but Washington is highly unlikely to let the same thing happen to U.S. solders. MALIKI WOOS ARAB STATES Maliki, dismissed as weak and ineffective for most of his tenure since taking over as prime minister in May 2006, has been increasingly assertive in recent months. He has launched crackdowns on Shi'ite militias and also al Qaeda, with U.S. forces playing a mainly supporting role. He has also called on Arab states to re-engage with Iraq. Sunni Arab countries have long been reluctant to extend full legitimacy to the Iraqi government because of the U.S. presence, as well as Baghdad's close ties to non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran. But Arab ties have begun to improve. The United Arab Emirates has cancelled almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, officials said on Sunday. And Jordan's King Abdullah is expected to visit Baghdad this week, the first Arab leader to do so since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Maliki did not specifically refer to the 150,000 American troops in Iraq, but they comprise the vast bulk of foreign forces in the country. He indicated the memorandum of understanding would be used instead of the formal Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) being negotiated. The MoU could be a stop-gap measure given some of the difficulties getting a full SOFA deal in place. Iraqi officials had said they would submit any SOFA to parliament, where it might be subject to long and bitter debate. Maliki has long come under pressure from the movement of powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Sadr's movement quit Maliki's government last year when the prime minister refused to do so. Luwaa Sumaisem, head of the Sadr bloc's political committee, welcomed Maliki's comments on possibly setting a timetable. "This is a step in the right direction and we are ready to support him in this objective. We hope Maliki will show seriousness about it," Sumaisem said, without saying if the movement might then consider rejoining the government. Washington and Baghdad are also negotiating a separate long-term agreement on political, economic and security ties. After five years in Iraq, the Bush administration had set an end-July target for wrapping up the negotiations. Some Iraqi officials had questioned whether the deadline could be met.

Glad to hear. Have a blessed day.

Not to sure if he will be seen it a better light. Saying that because many people will blame him and Presidency for the economic problems that are happening now, the War, Job losses, etc., etc. Granted not all are directly his administrations fault but I am sure that it will be viewed that way.

So let us know what's going on then.

I altered the post... does that make you feel better?

Copy and pasted from Wikipedia: Swope is the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, and is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman of the board. In particular, following the unexpected death of the chair, the other members of the board believed that each of them, individually, should be elected to the board. However, the bylaws of the corporation prohibit voting for oneself for the chair, so each individual member voted in a secret ballot for the person that no one else would vote for: Putney Swope. Renaming the business "Truth and Soul, Inc.", Swope replaces all but one of the white employees and insists they no longer accept business from companies that produce alcohol, war toys, or tobacco. The success of the business draws unwanted attention from the United States Government, which considers it "a threat to the national security."

I thought this was going to move towards their talking points since 9/11. Fearmongering. Have a great Fourth of July weekend everyone.

Actually it's important to me because a Presidential election. I like to have all sides being taken to task for their voting records change in policy. Side note: You know absolutely nothing about me... try to stick to the topic instead your pathetic attempts to knock me down. Just shows your maturity.

Any statement made by a Presidential candidate is important.

"McCain's Straight Talk Express was fairly well dismantled in 2000" Well, I guess he has it back on the road. And while it's running, I am going to point out his flip-flops. I am simply stating a fact that McCain's flip-flops are important and will be exploited during the general election push.

On that note... peace and chicken grease. have a safe and blessed fourth of july.

Working well.

Seriously go after anyone out there is cyberspace that wrote ANWAR instead of ANWR. Like the Alaska Report... http://alaskareport.com/news68/x61391_anwr_facts_anwar.htm Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Facts about ANWR the oil companies don't want you to know. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (ANWAR) is a politically hot topic right now, the oil companies, and some bought-and-paid-for politicians, want everyone to believe that by drilling in ANWR gasoline prices will drop immediately. They will, if you consider 2 cents in 14 years immediately.

Oh great the grammar police are out. Save that post for a later date, just in case.

No, I could care less about ANWR/ANWAR... what I care about is people using posts from months ago as their only rebuttal. It's sad.

First Point is listing McCain's flip-flops is not complex. Understanding that even though they came over a long period of time, once his campaign makes statements questioning Obama those flip-flops become relevant. That's even easier to understand. Second Point, send an email to Forbes and have the writer fired for being wrong.

Point is d-bag that there are many people out there that call it either ANWR or ANWAR. Either way I could give two craps.

AND IT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED NOW. Especially since his campaign and really everyone else is on the attack of the few that Obama has had. HISTORY OR NOT!!! HIS CAMPAIGN ON THE ATTACK MAKES IT RELEVANT

People love their freakin' links... http://www.anwr.org/features/forbes.htm Geologists believe that vast oil reserves lie beneath Alaska's 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Anwar for short,. Lobbying by environmentalist groups has prevented drilling there. But this may be changing as Congress discovers there are more votes to be had by cutting taxes and balancing the budget than by kowtowing to extreme environmentalist groups In March, British Petroleum and Chevron announced that they had discovered 100 million barrels of oil at their Sourdough prospect, on state-controlled land just west of ANWAR. Some geologists think Sourdough could turn out to hold 300 million b barrels of oil. How's that?

Since I have seen a bunch of posts and threads on Obama and his... why not post some of McCains. After all they should be primary concern for every voter out there... not just his campaign trying to hold on to the Republican base.

Bringing up a post from a while ago apparently is funny and amazing to some. I just found it to be sad. My bad... that was a GREAT post.

So the best you have is to bring back one of my posts? Quite sad. And I guess google.com is to tough for you. Acronym Definition ANWAR Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge From: http://www.anwr.org/ Geologists believe that vast oil reserves lie beneath Alaska's 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Anwar for short,. ANWAR Alaska: Is Drilling For Oil In This Wildlife Refuge The Answer? For those who are not aware, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) in Alaska is said to hold the largest undiscovered oil reserve in North America, and maybe even the world. We have known about the oil in ANWAR for a long time, but thanks to campaigning from environmentalists, the land has been untouched. It is estimated that the potential for recoverable oil in ANWAR would range in the multiple billions of barrels, along with trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, according to Forbes. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Facts about ANWR the oil companies don't want you to know. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (ANWAR) is a politically hot topic right now, the oil companies, and some bought-and-paid-for politicians, want everyone to believe that by drilling in ANWR gasoline prices will drop immediately. They will, if you consider 2 cents in 14 years immediately.

Believe me I understand your overplayed point. If people can challenge Obama, then McCain should be challenged as well. No matter what their messaging is (ie: Obama = Agent of Change..), BOTH of them are running to be President. One should not get a free pass because he's been playing the flip-flop roll for decades. If anything he should be scolded for that.

Actually... no re-writing and never claimed as my own. People were blasting Obama about flip-flopping so I simply googled for McCain's flip-flops. The very last link is just another one I wanted to add. Very simple. Try google. It's what the kids are doing. Thanks for trying.

The Flip-Flop Express: * McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... * McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/mccains-offsho... * McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15781.htm... * McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.) http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15863.htm... * McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/10/mccain-flips-o... * McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15825.htm... * He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion,he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15864.htm... * McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite. http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/now-mccain-is-flip-f... * McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... * McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/28/mccains-abo... / * McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15617.htm... * McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15557.htm... * McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15564.htm... * He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15573.htm... * McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/mccains-97-lob... * He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15633.htm... * McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15699.htm... *McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a“‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded.Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.” http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14761.htm... * McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/mccain-... * McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14818.htm... *In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15033.htm... * McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15337.htm... * McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15370.htm... * McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15358.htm... * McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were before Bush took office. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/19/mccain-economy-bloo... / * McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/mccain-earmark / * McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee was both a good and bad idea. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/21/hagee-flip-flop / *McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting“irresponsibly.”His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15176.htm... * McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/politics/16mccain.... * In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/10/emtimeem-has-m... * McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mccain-... / * McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mccain-... / * On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own legislation. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14447.htm... *In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving“feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9658.html * McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.” http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral... *McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as“a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.”In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/18/mccain-greatest-cri... / * McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003 to saying the exact opposite.http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortion / * McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/02/mcc... * McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6988.html * McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6731.html * On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/us/politics/03mccain.... *In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1880630&page=1 * McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation. http://www.nysun.com/national/campaign-finance-effort-r... / * McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it. http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070115/pl_usnw/dnc__mcca... * McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8313.html * McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15637887 / * McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag. http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003 * McCain decided in2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissinger / * McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and acorrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissinger / * McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/20... * McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8066.html * And now he’s both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortion/ http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15924.html