Sorry if this has been diaried already. I did a search but couldn't find it.
I heard this story first on Tuesday night's Rachel Maddow Show: http://www.rachelmaddow.com/
I can't believe that Bush hasn't been impeached. The GOPers playing politics with our troops. How rank.
EXCLUSIVE: Maliki Suggests Bush Pushed To Extend U.S. Presence In Iraq To Help McCain
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."
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Now, before anyone attacks thinkprogress.org, they are just repeating the story from Open Source Center, which is a Bush created office:
Open Source Center
The Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center (OSC) is a United States government center that provides analysis of open source materials, including gray literature, through OSC's headquarters and overseas bureaus.[1][2] Established November 1, 2005 under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, OSC was tasked with improving the availability of open sources to intelligence officers and other government officials.[3] OSC provides material to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and other government officials through the online news service World News Connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
I hope Barack Obama's team looks into this before Friday night's debate. Surge my ass.