Did Bush manipulate Iraq withdrawal date to benefit McCain?

by Jay McDonough

The recently completed Status of Force agreement between the U.S. and Iraq states American forces will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011.  That came as something of a surprise to anyone following the news reports chronicling the negotiations and public statements by Iraqi government officials. 

In July, Prime Minister Maliki had, for the most part, endorsed Barack Obama's proposed timeline of 16 months, or about the end of 2010.  Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh reiterated the Prime Minister's position, saying "the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal.”

So, how did it end up end of 2011?

A source tells ThinkProgress that White House communications staff were concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of the 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign. Indeed, during an interview with Iraqi television last week (according to an Open Source Center translation), Maliki suggested that the U.S. presidential elections played a role:

Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date.

But by endorsing Obama’s time line, Maliki indirectly slighted McCain, who has consistently and strenuously argued against setting a withdrawal date and has even said he wouldn’t mind having U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years. But Maliki’s new position has left McCain scrambling, first saying its “a pretty good timetable,” but then denying he used “the word timetable” and later settling on “anything is good.”

Despite Bush’s constant refrain that commanders, not politics, will decide the course in Iraq, it seems that trying to help his party retain the White House is more important.  (Link)

It's all about priorities, right?