Posted on 08/24/2007 8:36:32 AM PDT by RDTF
CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- A powerhouse Republican lobbying firm with close ties to the White House has begun a public campaign to undermine the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, CNN has confirmed.
A report by the U.S. intelligence community questions Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ability to govern.
This comes as President Bush is publicly taking great pains to reiterate his support for the embattled Iraqi leader.
Al-Maliki's government has come under sharp criticism and scrutiny from Washington lawmakers and officials, as reflected in Thursday's National Intelligence Estimate.
A senior Bush administration official told CNN the White House is aware of the lobbying campaign by Barbour Griffith & Rogers because the firm is "blasting e-mails all over town" criticizing al-Maliki and promoting the firm's client, former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, as an alternative to al-Maliki.
But the senior administration official insisted that White House officials have "absolutely no involvement" in the campaign to remove al-Maliki, nor have they given it their blessing.
"There's just no connection whatsoever," the official said. "There's absolutely no involvement."
When asked whether the White House will ask the prominent Republican lobbying firm to stop lashing out at al-Maliki, the official said, "I don't rule it out."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
BS. This is probably just another made up story from “unnamed sources”. Just like the NY Times “Bush is going to close Gitmo” or “Bush is going wobbly on Iraq” this is just another PR lie spewed forth by a Politically Corrupted “News” media.
So, who’s paying the high-priced lobbying firm to blast away at al Maliki? Just curious...
Well, Charles Krauthammer just came out and said basically the same thing as this article.
My guess is that Bush has decided to finally try and get rid of Maliki and replace him with Allawi (without necessarily destroying the very weak Iraqi government), who's much more friendly to the U.S. and hostile to Iran.
This is coming from more than one place. I suspect it’s true and Bush is even part of it.
Reading between the lines...Iraq’s leaders were democratically elected and we cannot demand a change in Prime Ministers...but we can have friends lobby for it while denying any official involvement. Political games that are played all of the time. Of course, the Dims make no such distinction. They will call for the ouster or replacement of a legitimately elected official (like Mrs. Bill Clinton did this week) because it’s expedient, rules be damned.
Hmm...is this like Bill Clinton sending Dick Morris and a group of American political consultants to get Boris Yeltsin elected?
This story could easily be true. In the past, foreign socialists have hired Carville to plot campaign strategery for them, and it is entirely reasonable to suspect that other firms here in the US of all stripes could be hired to work on foreign campaigns.
I also remember Carville going to Israel to help the socialists campaign there a few years ago.
1. this is CNN so it is automatically undermining the WH.
2. Iraq is big boy politics where nations are moved like chesspieces now that Baker and co have essentially taken over. So it IS possible.
3. This could be an intentional “leak” to light a fire under Maliki’s butt to get him to do his job.
I think that even President Bush realizes by now that Maliki is little more than a stooge of Iran, and has little interest in national reconciliation, in spite of the mealy-mouthed rhetoric.
This is all part of the new Democratic media strategy to applaud the surge while saying it is hopeless because of the Iraqi Gov’t.
So you think the Iraqi government is in good shape then?
Morris also worked for Yushchenko during Ukraine’s orange revolution and for Calderon.
Not good. Two days ago he was on TV rebuking the guys calling for Maliki to be gone, saying that “it was not up to us, it is up to the Iraqi people” and that M won a free election. It was a good applause line, but if this is true we are hypocrites.
This whole “Iraqi democracy” thing is such a joke and always was. What with the stupid purple fingers and all. These savages have never had democracy and never will, despite the wet dreams on Wolfowitz et al. We should be doing whatever we can to brutally exterminate any opposition, and get the oil flowing. Anything else is a waste of taxpayer money.
Hillary and the chattering class really have no idea what they are talking about.
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