The 2008 Democratic Presidential ticket, burnished with a former U.S. Naval Admiral -- Admiral Fallon is more conciliating than I would like him to be, but...

I have just received an important clarification from CentCom regarding remarks that I made in my diary yesterday about John McCain.  It seems as though there was a misinterpretation and misunderstanding, so this necessary update and clarification was issued a few moments ago.

Please note the following changes in bold and/or strikethrough from the original comments that were "purportedly made" by me:

Since Der Spiegel has released the transcript of their interview with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki, I thought I would go through it and see what al-Maliki thought about various things.  Some of his comments were quite interesting.

Boy was I Surprised to find my re-posted, slightly updated, diary, from yesterday, on the rescue list, I'll get to that in a minute.

There is reportedly some 43 million voters who are Veterans of our Military, active duty Members of our Military, as well as direct Family Members of both of those groups. Anyone who wants to keep cruntching numbers could keep a fairly close number of all three groups, births, deaths, enlistments etc., a huge task but a rough estimate could be had. The PLUS comes from the fact of not only the Extended Families of but also includes the Friends, Neighbors, Communities and how much they take into consideration Military Service especially when in occupation of two countries, or any dedicated service, to Country. The figures for that can't be put into a raw number, a close figure, or a percentage, they are Unknown.

Yesterday's Iraq PM's essential endorsement of Obama's 16 months withdrawal plan, reported by German magazine Spiegel, caused much uproar.

http://www.spiegel.de/...

With pundits calling Maliki's endorsement of Obama's plan a "major development" in the campaign, the White House, in coordination with McBush, was in a total damage control. A few hours later, some murky sources in Maliki's office began apparently walking backwards on reported qoutes from his interview in Spiegel. "Lost in translation defense" was apparently channeled via CentCom.  

VirginiaDem has excellent diary on this:
http://www.dailykos.com/...

Today, Speigel fires back.  

Barack Obama advocates engaging the Iranians diplomatically as a more useful strategy than saber-rattling and refusing to talk to them.  Obama is called an appeaser and (much) worse with great disdain by both the administration and the McCain camp for daring to even suggest it. This week, the US sent a diplomatic envoy to the Iran-Europe talks as "an observer" for the very first time.  Hmmm.  You say coincidence?

For many Americans Colin Powell's trip to the UN solidified their support for the Iraq war.  I needed no such reassurance.  John McCain supported the war and so I felt comfortable and confident.  In 2002, it seemed unimaginable that John McCain would follow President Bush blindly.  Those of us who campaigned for McCain in 2000 fought on the front lines of the first battle to stop the Bush regime.  

I don't want to get into the details of the decision to support the war: the influence of September 11th and politics, the capitulation of Democratic critics, or the silencing of dissent by the media.  I was a victim of and accomplice to all of that.  

What I do want to talk about is the tragedy of post-2000 John McCain.  This is not to say that the reality of pre-2000 McCain is as impressive or positive as I felt it was when I supported him, but instead to show how cold heartedly and cynically he betrayed those who eight years ago looked to him for leadership.  

Not long ago Charlie Black caused a stir in Fortune magazine when he predicted that another terrorist attack would do a great deal to give a boost to McCain's presidential aspirations.  There was much a-do about this little 'mistake' and Charlie immediately apologized to 'the world at large' for saying such a horrible thing...out loud that is.

When nothing else works, its time to pull out the old 9/11 fear card and even though McCain made if clear that he did not agree with Charlie Black, guess who's got their crystal ball out and is predicting that there will more than likely be a huge horrible attack in Iraq very near election day this year.

How convenient.  How specific.  How amazing that among all of his other talents, John McCain can see into the future.  

It only gets worse below the fold.  Bring your helmets and wear garlic around you neck just in case.

Blackwater, as part of the State Department's Worldwide Personal Protective Service, is protecting Barack Obama on his current trip to Afghanistan according to Jeremy Scahill, speaking today at the Gitmo panel at Netroots Nation.  Jeremy was vehement in a way I haven't heard him before in exhorting us to let Obama know what we think about his attitude towards these contractors. He's pressing on us to make our voices heard now, when Obama most needs us--before the election, not after.  

Update:AllisonInSeattle said it just as I stopped myself from climbing into bed to come back and say it myself.  It is NOT a good thing to have OUR candidate being protected by right wing Bush-supported forces!  Think about it.

Update 2:  I can see that many of us don't know about Blackwater and who they really are.  Maybe some Blackwater 101 diaries are in order.

THE DKOS FAQ PLAINLY states...

Diaries should be substantive. A good guideline is that if you don't have at least three solid paragraphs to write about your subject, you should probably post a comment in an open thread, or in a recent diary or front-page post that covers a topic relevant to what you wish to write about.

I would add that tight writing, careful research, insightful analysis -- these are the ingredients of the best diaries. And of course the carefully chosen word.  

But sometimes, only pictures -- and the look in a soldier's eyes -- will do...

Woo hoo, this is rich:

Along those lines, Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh, who the Times calls a spokesman for the Iraqi government, has released a statement saying that Prime Minister Maliki's statement was "misunderstood and mistranslated" and "not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama, U.S. presidential candidate, on the timeframe for U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq." But as the Times notes al Dabbagh did not specify what had been mistranslated.

Another interesting detail, noted by the Times. al-Dabbagh's statement was released by CentCom. I do not know how often Iraqi government statements are released by CentCom.

So, the official Iraqi spokesman's statement was released by U.S. Central Command?  Um, are they fucking kidding us?  Couldn't they be a little more subtle about this?

This is the headline from the Sunday Independent

Brown plans to withdraw troops as he backs Obama over 'war on terror'

Big as Mailiki's endorsement (subsequently modified) of Obama's 16-month timetable (a/k/a time horizon) is, this is bigger. Bush's favorite ally has turned on him.

If McCain didn't have gays and the mullahs, he couldn't get elected.  But the promise of tax cuts and constant reminders of evil-doers might get it done:

(crossposted at MeanRachel.com)

Here at the convention center, between rooms twelve and sixteen, there is a long hallway with panes of frosted glass on either side that allows a soft gray glow of light to come in from the outside.  Maybe that's why they've chosen to put the art project, I Got The News Today (IGTNT), in this hallway.

I think it's pretty clear that the recent fall in the price of oil on the world market has to do with the fact the the Bush Administration opened talks with the Iranians.  This caused a softening in tensions in that part of the world.  And to anyone who knows how the price of oil works, the softening of tensions in a major oil producing nation is a core issue among speculators.  

I'm not sure the Obama Drop is the best phrase to use for this.  But I do think it would be wise to come up with a phrase.  And maybe we could use that phrase even more once (and if) the price of oil dropping gets seen at the gas pump.  Wouldn't it be great if the MSM starting picking up on that phrase too?

Are there any Madison Ave types out there that could come up with a phrase for this?  

Quite a week for Obama.  He precipitates one of the biggest drops in the price of oil in history, and he shows the world a wise opening to end the American presence in Iraq, that gets the support of the leader of Iraq.

Wow!

OK, short and sweet folks. This appears to be the first AP video report on Obama's trip to Kuwait.

I recently gave an update on my PCS move to 82nd Airborne. I've learned that I am definitely deploying to Iraq "sometime around November."

We're about to leave for dinner so this Diary will be short and sweet.

UPDATE: I just got back from seeing a the play Peter Pan in Raleigh. I didn't expect this to make the Rec list! Thanks, everyone for such an overwhelming show of support. And the select few who had something negative to say is no skin off my back, so no worries. I'm not leaving until around November so I'll still be around for a while. Between now and then I'll periodically be sent to various different training sites and schools.

I don't like conspiracy theories involving the leaders of our nation, in large part because I don't credit them with the intelligence to devise them or the ability to carry them out.  However, in reading the news over the past few days, I've had opportunity to revise that opinion, at least as it applies to a political conspiracy.

The current administration has never had any problem in developing and executing political action.  And the press has always been ready and waiting to help make it work.