… says he wants a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
In March, John McCain said that setting a timetable for American withdrawal from Iraq would be “an unconscionable act of betrayal.” But McCain also said three years ago that we’d have to get out if the elected Iraqi government asked us to get out.
Yesterday, Nouri al-Maliki said he wants a timetable for American withdrawal from Iraq.
McCain’s flacks say that Maliki’s position is “consistent” with McCain’s.
R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght.
I think this is A Big Deal.
Update AFP story gives the most natural interpretation:
Iraq’s hardening demand for a pullout deadline for US troops on Tuesday sent shockwaves through the White House campaign, putting Republican hopeful John McCain on the defensive.
Will that get to be the established narrative? A lot could hang on the answer to that question.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman