Via FactCheck.org:
Operation Iraqi Gloss-Over
September 14, 2007
The president cites shaky facts as he makes a case for keeping high levels of troops in Iraq.
Summary
President Bush played loose with the facts in his address to the nation Thursday night as he tried to convince the American public that the surge in U.S. troops in Iraq has made the country more stable.
- He said "36 nations ... have troops on the ground in Iraq." In fact, his own State Department puts the number at 25.
- He said “ordinary life” was returning to Baghdad. Perhaps. In fact, news reports describe the city as starkly segregated with Shiites and Sunnis living in separate neighborhoods, which are walled off from one another with huge concrete barricades.
- He said Baqubah in Diyala province was "cleared." But the Washington Post quotes a State Department official as saying the security situation there was not stable.
- He said that “the Iraqi Army is becoming more capable,” which may be true. But the Iraqi defense minister says it’ll be 2012 before the army will be even 60 percent capable of protecting the nation from external threats.
Analysis
The president argued that the pumped-up level of U.S. forces has been a success and things are improving in Iraq. At times he overreached.
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2 comments:
From the Washington Post....(just to make your point again)
For instance, Bush asserted that “Iraq’s national leaders are getting some things done,” such as “sharing oil revenues with the provinces” and allowing “former Baathists to rejoin Iraq’s military or receive government pensions.”
Yet his statement ignored the fact that U.S. officials have been frustrated that none of those actions have been enshrined into law — and that reports from Baghdad this week indicated that a potential deal on sharing oil revenue is collapsing.
Oh this whole deal with the Iraq War is sickening! Bush earlier didn't want any Baathists in the new Iraqi government. The guy's crazy...:(
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