Misquoted? Mistranslated? Or What?

Barack Obama is in Iraq today, and he's expected to meet with top US military officials and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Yet already, that meeting has been overshadowed by Maliki's interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. Published over the weekend, Maliki appeared to endorse Obama's timeline for the withdrawal of US troops from his country. But did he?

Not so fast! The Bush Administration, obviously looking to deny Obama this kind of advantage in the US presidential race, pressed Maliki for what it called "a clarification" of his remarks. Lo and behold, the Iraqi leader backtracked, saying he was "mistranslated" when he said Obama's 16 month timeline was fine with him. 

Bush wanted a quick retraction because only Friday he'd agreed to a "general time horizon" for a troop pullout. That horizon contained no specific timeline. Speaking of lacking specifics, when the Iraqi government said Maliki had been "misunderstood and mistranslated", they offered none. Nor could they explain how the mistranslation occurred, since the interpreter works not for Der Spiegel, but for the Iraqi government. 

That the American president and the Iraqi prime minister are working at cross purposes should come as no surprise. It's Maliki who is under pressure in his own country to get the Americans out as soon as possible. He's also the one facing an election in the not too distant future. He could care less about political points in the US presidential race, at least not now.

Nouri al-Maliki knows he could well be meeting with George W. Bush's successor when he meets with Barack Obama today. Rest assured, so does Bush.