Pirate's Cove

The Missiah is in Afghanistan, ready for his photo ops

 Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan early Saturday morning, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to meet with American commanders there and later in Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the two major U.S. war zones.

Mr. Obama touched down in Kabul about 11:45 a.m., according to a pool report released by his aides. In addition to attending briefings with military leaders, he hoped to meet with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan before flying to Iraq later in the weekend.

That’s interesting. He hopes to meet with Karzai. I wonder if Karzai hopes to meet with Obama?

His trip was cloaked in secrecy, which advisers said was due to security concerns set forth by the Secret Service. His whereabouts have been unknown since he departed Chicago. He left Andrews Air Force Base near Washington on Thursday afternoon, according to a pool report, and turned up in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Hey, that sounds pretty much like his actual policy and political viewpoints, which, while we sort of know them, are being shrouded in bloviation and the Memory Hole.

On the positive side for Barry, there are no reporters with him (supposedly), and he says he is not there to undermine President Bush, he is just there as a Senator.

I wonder how long that will last?

Now, we wait for the soundbites and stories that should show up shortly where Obama will deliver his message of hope, change, and how Bush has screwed everything up in Afghanistan.

BTW, the above photo accompanied the Yahoo News storyabout Obama in Afghanistan, in the pictures section. Messiah!

Afternoon update: The Missiah apparently played some basketball! I understand that a few of the media types (Fox News TV reports that over 200 wanted to accompany him) got the vapors. And the women were pretty stoked, too!

For the Reality Based foolishness of the day, we go to Democracy Arsenal – It’s Over

Not much to say here.  Other than the fact that this is a huge huge huge deal.  Article speaks for itself.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

“U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes” (snip)

And

“The Americans have found it difficult to agree on a concrete timetable for the exit because it seems like an admission of defeat to them. But it isn’t,” Maliki told Der Spiegel.

Is there anything left to say?

Yeah. If you were the president of Iraq, wouldn’t you want the Coalition forces out as soon as possible? And, based on what has been going on in Iraq over the past 5-6 months, there is a chance that the troops could, for the most part, be out in 16 months or less. But, remember, this is the president of Iraq speaking, not a neophyte junior US Senator with delusions of messianic grandeur. Someone who knows the situation. Someone who has access to military commanders, and has discussed the situation with people at all levels, including President Bush. Someone who is acting on facts, information, and intelligence, not a feelings based whim.

Oh ho! Over at Hot Air, we find that the first quote from Der Spiegel was changed, ending up with what Democracy Arsenal ended up with. Originally

Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we’re concerned. US presidential candidate Barack Obama is right when he talks about 16 months. Assuming that positive developments continue, this is about the same time period that corresponds to our wishes.

Bit of a change, eh?