However, Mahmoud Othman, a leader of the Kurds in the Iraqi parliament, told ABC News that Bush made a personal call to Maliki after the Der Spiegel interview was published. It was only after that call, Othman said, that the Iraqi government came out with the story that Maliki was misquoted.
The spin after Bush's call to al-Maliki;
"Unfortunately, Der Spiegel was not accurate," Dabbagh said Sunday by telephone. "I have the recording of the voice of Mr. Maliki. We even listened to the translation."
Those damn undeniable facts & 'audio recordings';
But the interpreter for the interview works for Maliki's office, not the magazine. And in an audio recording of Maliki's interview that Der Spiegel provided to The New York Times, Maliki seemed to state a clear affinity for Obama's position, bringing it up on his own in an answer to a general question on troop presence.
The following is a direct translation from the Arabic of Maliki's comments by The Times:
"Obama's remarks that — if he takes office — in 16 months he would withdraw the forces, we think that this period could increase or decrease a little, but that it could be suitable to end the presence of the forces in Iraq."Poor George, Grandpy McSame and all the wingnut sheep ... they can't spin their way out of the facts this time and they're losing their sanity (what little they had left) over Barack Obama's streak of foreign policy slam-dunks!
He continued: "Who wants to exit in a quicker way has a better assessment of the situation in Iraq."
Enjoy watching their meltdown ...
