The Early Word: Maliki Backs Off Support of Obama Plan

As Senator Barack Obama continues his trip to the Middle East and Europe, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has moved to clarify statements that he supports Mr. Obama’s plan to withdraw most American troops from Iraq over 16 months. A spokesman for Mr. al-Maliki said that the comments the prime minister made to the German magazine Der Spiegel were “misunderstood and mistranslated'’ and were not “conveyed accurately.” Afghanistan was the first stop on Senator Obama’s overseas trip. As The Times’s Carlotta Gall and Jeff Zeleny report, he met with Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, with American troops and received a briefing from military commanders. The Obama campaign announced yesterday that later this week Mr. Obama will deliver a speech in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park, finally putting to rest rumors that he might... [read full story]