"I am there to listen, but..."

The twit really and truly believes that all in the world, including foreign leaders that outrank him, are mindless morons.

To paraphrase an old movie line (which probably came from somewhere else that I should know about):

There is no "listen, but. There is only "listen", or "not listen".

This is the second time in the last few weeks that we've had news reports about how Maliki supports Obama's plan or Maliki wants the Americans out by a date certain, which is then spun into how Maliki agrees with Obama that we need to get out. Of course Obama says we need to get out because the war is lost and Maliki says it's because the war is won, but oh well.

I don't know who's playing what game but if Maliki really is pushing for a date certain then let's give him one: tomorrow. It's hurricane season and we may need those soldiers down in New Orleans or somewhere.

As for the British, not to take away from their contributions but it seems like they aren't doing much beyond sitting at some base down near Basra in any event.

Regarding the AP report that Maliki agrees on a 16 month withdrawl; apparently it was a "mistranslation" by Der Spiegel or the AP that picked up the German story.

"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government’s spokesman said on Sunday.

Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that Maliki’s remarks to Der Spiegel were translated incorrectly."