Obama Sought To Block Iraq Troop Withdrawals To Boost His Own Campaign

Laying aside the obvious Logan Act violations, Sen. Barack Obama lobbied Iraqi officials during his "world tour" in July not to reach an agreement with the Bush administration on the withdrawal of American troops from the country before his election as president according to a New York Post story. Amir Taheri writes:

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says.

Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

Where's the media outrage? This treasonous Chicago political hack sought to interfere with American-Iraqi negotiations to benefit his own political campaign. He doesn't want to see American troops come home unless it happens on his watch. He didn't support the war. He's been willing to withdraw without victory. And he obviously puts his own political ambitions above the best interest of our troops and this country.

There's a bit of irony here. After the 1980 presidential election, senior officials from the Carter administration concocted a conspiracy theory that claimed then-vice presidential candidate George H.W. Bush had made a secret trip during the campaign to France on behalf of Reagan to get the Iranian government not to agree to the release of the American hostages in Tehran until Reagan took office. As silly as the conspiracy theory was, the media played this story up for many months before throwing in the towel. Here, we have evidence that Obama blatantly violated the Logan Act, which is a felony offense, to further his own presidential campaign at the expense of our country. You can bet the New York Post story will receive no further scrutiny from the Washington Post, New York Times, Time, Newsweek, et al. They're too busy up in Alaska working on smear stories about Gov. Sarah Palin.

UPDATE: Here is the McCain campaign's reaction to the NY Post story:

At this point, it is not yet clear what official American negotiations Senator Obama tried to undermine with Iraqi leaders, but the possibility of such actions is unprecedented. It should be concerning to all that he reportedly urged that the democratically-elected Iraqi government listen to him rather than the US administration in power. If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas. Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq's Foreign Minister during their closed door meeting. The charge that he sought to delay the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq raises serious questions about Senator Obama's judgment and it demands an explanation.