Monday, Taheri accused Obama of attempting to derail a
status-of-forces agreement between the US and Iraq by telling the
Iraqis to wait until after the American elections and stop negotiating
with the Bush administration. Obama responded by essentially
confirming Taheri’s account:

Read the following very carefully - it's a great example of Democrat
"New Speak" in which we see where the denial becomes a non-denial
looping back to denial of the truth while admiting that yes, indeed
Obama committed a crime by entering into seperate neogotiations with
a foreign government.

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PUEBLO, Colorado (AFP) — Barack Obama's White House campaign angrily
denied Monday a report that he had secretly urged the Iraqis to
postpone a deal to withdraw US troops until after November's election.

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.

"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, according to Taheri.

"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 reportedly said.

The Republican campaign of John McCain seized on the report to accuse
Obama of double-speak on Iraq, calling it an "egregious act of
political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political
advantage overseas."

But Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Taheri's
article bore "as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign
commercial."

In fact, Obama had told the Iraqis that they should not rush through a
"Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of US forces
until after President George W. Bush leaves office, she said.

In the face of resistance from Bush, the Democrat has long said that
any such agreement must be reviewed by the US Congress as it would tie
a future administration's hands on Iraq.

"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," Morigi said.

"These outright distortions will not changes the facts -- Senator
Obama is the only candidate who will safely and responsibly end the
war in Iraq and refocus our attention on the real threat: a resurgent
Al-Qaeda and Taliban along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border."

Last Tuesday, Bush announced plans to remove 8,000 US troops from Iraq
in the coming months and send 4,500 to Afghanistan by January.

Obama said the president was belatedly coming round to his own way of
thinking, but also accused Bush of "tinkering around the edges" and
"kicking the can down the road to the next president."

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Hope. Change. Nuance.