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16 June 2006

The amnesty tapdance begins

This is getting better by the minute, don't you think?
Maliki Aide Who Discussed Amnesty Leaves Job
Premier Disavows Remarks

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 16, 2006; Page A22

BAGHDAD, June 15 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office on Thursday accepted the resignation of an aide who had told a reporter that Maliki was considering a limited amnesty that would likely include guerrillas who had attacked U.S. troops, the aide said.

The Maliki aide who resigned, Adnan Ali al-Kadhimi, stood by his account of amnesty considerations, reported Thursday by The Washington Post. Kadhimi said Maliki had indicated the same position less directly in public. "The prime minister himself has said that he is ready to give amnesty to the so-called resistance, provided they have not been involved in killing Iraqis," Kadhimi said Thursday.

Maliki's office issued a statement earlier Thursday saying, "Mr. Adnan Kadhimi doesn't represent the Iraqi government in this issue, and Mr. Kadhimi is not an advisor or spokesman for the prime minister."
Given al Maliki's earlier statements about troops killing civilians, and the carefully vague maneuvering going on now, this looks like far less of a "disavowal," than it does a gentle distancing to avoid the embarrassment of this coming out a day after El Presidente's ambush visit to the Green Zone.

Now that the adviser mentioned in the original article fell/was thrown onto his own sword and is "resigning" his position, it'll be interesting is to see if this elicits a similar shift from folks like Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Ted Stevens (R-AK) who fell over themselves to enthusiastically endorse amnesty for troop-killing insurgents on the Senate floor.
"I really believe we ought to try to find some way to encourage that country to demonstrate to those people who have been opposed to what we're trying to do, that it's worthwhile for them and their children to come forward and support this democracy. And if that's amnesty, I'm for it. I'd be for it." - Sen. Ted Stevens

"...might it not just be as useful an exercise to be trying to pass a resolution commending the Iraqi government for the position that they've taken today with regard to this discussion of Amnesty?" - Sen. Mitch McConnell
The pirouettes that these guys are doing on individuals who, 36 hours ago, were "terrorists" are hilarious. There are officially no limits when it comes to spinning events to manufacture "progress" in the disaster they've helped to create, even if it means commending efforts to wipe the slate for people who've killed U.S. soldiers.

Wonder how that figures into the last three years of the GOP's self-righteous bloviation about "supporting the troops?"

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