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About This Page: This is a discussion on Politics within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. And once again, the mass media tries to ignore it. Obama met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and basically said to stop negotiating with Bush. Just wait for the
And once again, the mass media tries to ignore it. Obama met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and basically said to stop negotiating with Bush. Just wait for the next administration. Nice. Not treasonous but completely inappropriate. ANother example of "judgement to lead".
"While the media desperately seeks a relevant angle on the so-called “Troopergate” non-story out of Alaska, or perhaps investigates who paid for Sarah Palin’s tanning bed, a U.S. senator who has not been elected president attempts to undermine legitimate negotiations between the man who has and the government of the nation we would like to stop occupying as soon as possible."
Oh that's right, this is just a Repub talking point isn't it.
Noted Bamboozler Behind Latest Obama Smear
By Zachary Roth - September 16, 2008, 12:14PM
Since yesterday, the right-wing blogosphere has been all aflutter over a report in the New York Post, written by the Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri, that Barack Obama has privately tried to delay an agreement between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration on a draw-down of American forces from Iraq.
Here's the key passage:
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.\\"
Yesterday evening, the McCain camp sought to get some mileage out of Taheri's report, releasing a statement from Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign policy aide, asserting that: \\"If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas.\\"
But there are a couple reasons why the bloviation looks to be uncalled for. The Obama camp yesterday put out a statement of its own asserting that the story \\"bears as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial,\\" and charging that Taheri has confused a long-term Status of Forces agreement with negotations over a shorter-term drawdown.
It's worth looking at that distinction more closely to get a sense of what the Obama camp means here and where Taheri may have erred. In terms of a Status of Forces agreement, Obama has consistently made clear that he believes any such agreement should be delayed until after the election -- so that a President Obama or McCain would not be bound by an agreement negotiated by a weakened Bush administration. The McCain camp did not object when, in June, Obama told reporters at a press conference that he had made exactly this argument to Zebari in a phone call.
The Obama campaign's statement released yesterday in response to the report was consistent with this position: \\"Barack Obama has consistently called for any Strategic Framework Agreement to be submitted to the U.S. Congress so that the American people have the same opportunity for review as the Iraqi Parliament,\\" though, perhaps unwilling to alienate antiwar voters, it artfully omitted the fact that Obama has argued that this should be delayed until the next administration is in charge.
As for a shorter-term drawdown -- which is what Taheri seems to mean by \\"a draw-down of the American military presence\\" -- Obama has never suggested that this should be delayed. And again, yesterday's statement backs that up: \\"Unlike John McCain, he supports a clear timetable to redeploy our troops that has the support of the Iraqi government. Barack Obama has never urged a delay in negotiations, nor has he urged a delay in immediately beginning a responsible drawdown of our combat brigades.\\"
Still, if Taheri's report were accurate, and Obama had indeed talked to Zebari about delaying any shorter-term deal, it would at least represent a change of position for the candidate.
But Taheri doesn't exactly have a reputation for care and precision in his work. In May 2006, he published an explosive story in the Post (since removed from the paper's site), as well as Canada's National Post, about an Iranian law that forced Jews to wear a yellow stripe, stoking fears of a second Nazi Germany. Only problem: it turned out to be a complete fabrication.
That turned out to be typical of Taheri's work. A 1989 review of Taheri's book, Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran, written for The New Republic by noted Iranian scholar Shaul Bakhash and unearthed by TPMmuckraker in 2006, noted that Taheri \\"repeatedly refers us to books where the information cited does not exist,\\" and is \\"capable of generalizations of breathtaking sweep and inaccuracy.\\" According to Bakhash, \\"[Taheri's] interpretations of the documents are often egregiously inaccurate,\\" and he \\"has trouble transcribing even the simplest information.\\"
One Iraq scholar told TPMmuckraker after the false yellow-star report, referring to Taheri: \\"This is a person who doesn't have any credibility.\\"
Doesn't exactly sound like a reliable source.
So the mainstream media isn't reporting this because, surprise, it's a complete fabrication.
__________________ "If I could lead you into the Promised Land, I would not do it, because someone else would come along and lead you out."
Last edited by OddManRush; September 17th, 2008 at 01:37 PM.
And once again, the mass media tries to ignore it.
Probably because they are unsure that it actually happened. The only source for this accusation from New York Post columnist Amir Taheri, who in 2006 wrote an article which falsely claimed that Iranian parliament passed a law that "envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public" and then later claimed that Iran's UN ambassador Javad Zarif was involved in the 1979 seizure of hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran, both of which have been proven to be false. So, suffice to say, his journalistic integrity is less then stellar.
If this did actually happen and the news organizations can confirm its validity, you can rest assured that it will be a story.
Here's an account of some of the more infamous lies circulated by Amir Taheri prior to the current lie being eagerly circulated by the the right wing nutcases out there. This was published in November, 2007. Not surprised to hear that Taheri is still making crap up for a living. This guy is about as reliable as Dick Cheney.
__________________
"For if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." Thomas DeQuincey, 1700's
in the end, if Obama or McCain gets elected, I don't have a problem with them drawing troop levels down within the needs of the theater without Congress' "help". In fact, I'd prefer it be done faster that way.
Furthermore, this just makes sense. The waning hours of any presidency, this one in particular, make the word and ability of the sitting president very weak. Any bargains made in the final few months of any presidency are made from a position of weakness.
Here's an account of some of the more infamous lies circulated by Amir Taheri prior to the current lie being eagerly circulated by the the right wing nutcases out there. This was published in November, 2007. Not surprised to hear that Taheri is still making crap up for a living. This guy is about as reliable as Dick Cheney.
This guy sounds a lot like the infamous "Curveball" that played a role in getting into this Iraq war.
__________________ Sole member of the Mark Visheau fan club.
The cynicism and sheer amount of poorly constructed lies coming from the right this election season is completely baffling. I mean, it's not like they've exactly been the party of honesty in the past, but come on already.
In place of half-truths are now just flat out fabrications, and bad ones at that. I guess they really do think the American people are incredibly stupid and they're putting all their eggs in that one basket. We'll find out if they're right... I pray* they're not.
* - I don't actually pray. That was just an expression.
Here we go again. Just go outside your apartment and get down on your knees in front of your McSame Caribou Barbie '08 sign and say "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
How can you undermine something that doesn't exist.
This guy sounds a lot like the infamous \\\\"Curveball\\\\" that played a role in getting into this Iraq war.
Bingo. Or like Ahmed Chalabi, that favored source of information, and expert on all things Iraqi for the neo-cons when they were setting up their case for the Iraq War.
Last edited by Leonidas; September 17th, 2008 at 09:03 PM.
AB. Do some research of your own stories before posting them. Posting this makes you look silly.
I don't really agree. I think it's best this non-sense gets exposed. It's better that it gets brought up and discussed...I would not have had the time to look this up myself.
I do remember this guy and that story about Iran and the "dress code". It came out about the same time that other reliable news source "Newsmax" put out some crap about Iran making Jews wear numbers or some such. All false...yet conveniently timed to help the Bush Admin in their propagand against Iran (and possible attack). "Newsmax" pulled the story the next day.
IMO, these stories should be posted and discussed regardless of the intention.
jom
__________________ Old men's room wall saying: Flush hard, it's a long way to Washington
Probably because they are unsure that it actually happened. The only source for this accusation from New York Post columnist Amir Taheri, who in 2006 wrote an article which falsely claimed that Iranian parliament passed a law that \"envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public\" and then later claimed that Iran's UN ambassador Javad Zarif was involved in the 1979 seizure of hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran, both of which have been proven to be false. So, suffice to say, his journalistic integrity is less then stellar.
If this did actually happen and the news organizations can confirm its validity, you can rest assured that it will be a story.
Wow, so now the mass media is suddenly afraid to report something, possibly a "fabrication"? Since when? Oh thats right, when its a story about a Dem, the facts are "checked completely". Funny how if its something about a Repub, facts don't need to be checked.
Wow, so now the mass media is suddenly afraid to report something, possibly a \\"fabrication\\"? Since when? Oh thats right, when its a story about a Dem, the facts are \\"checked completely\\". Funny how if its something about a Repub, facts don't need to be checked.
a track record
all of the past achievements or failures of a person or organization. We like to recruit managers with a strong track record. They have a strong track record in rescuing ailing companies. (often + in)
In this case, Taheri has one of the worst track records in journalism. (If you can call what he does journalism, he's a propagandist.)
Obama undermining US foreign policy 
ValleyFan
