Free Republic

Barack Obama's statement denying secret negotiations with the Iraqi government on the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in fact confirms Amir Taheri's allegations that the Illinois Senator made an end run around U.S. officials on the disposition of American forces. Obama's own statements reveal he indeed appealed to the Iraqi government for a delay in the withdrawal plans. In the New York Post, conservative Iranian-born columnist Amir Taheri quoted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying the Democrat made the demand when he visited Baghdad in July, while publicly demanding an early withdrawal. ... Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said...

By J. Michael Waller © 2003 Insight/News World Communications Inc. It's one of the unsolved political mysteries of 2003: Exactly who drew up the plan for Democrats to abuse the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, or SCCI, as a stealth weapon to undermine and discredit President George W. Bush and the U.S. war effort in Iraq? The plot, authored by aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., vice chairman of the committee, has poisoned the working atmosphere of a crucial legislative panel in a time of war, Senate sources say. It centered on duping the panel's Republican chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts...