More B.S. from Bush Inc.

Our beloved President again told another white lie, to U.S. troops stationed in Texas no less. Of course, it's not a new lie, just the same old crap about the amount of Iraq security forces that are trained.

From Reuters
"President Bush said on Tuesday trained Iraqi security forces now outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq and are playing a greater role in fighting insurgents."

"Bush offered no timetable on a withdrawal. He said about 150,000 Iraqi military and police and other security personnel had now been trained, outnumbering the estimated 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq."

Sound familiar? It should. The administration has been exaggerating Iraq troop levels for a long time.

PRESIDENTAL DEBATE:
"President Bush said in the Sept. 30 presidential debate that there are already 100,000 Iraqis trained to “make Iraq safe and secure.” In the Oct. 13 debate, the president said by the end of the year there would be 125,000 Iraqis trained to provide security. But others have labeled these numbers an exaggeration."

BUT FIVE MONTHS EARLIER:
"In April 2004, the Pentagon said the United States had trained and fielded more than 200,000 Iraqi security forces."

THEN IN JAN '05 WE HEARD:
"Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there are 120,000 trained Iraqi troops. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) dismissed Rice's number as "malarkey" and said, based on his observations in Iraq, that the tally was closer to 4,000."

Of course, the problem is the definition of "trained".

From NPR:
"Top defense officials face questioning on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon about the numbers and readiness of Iraqi security forces trained by the United States. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq now has 136,000 military and police forces who've been trained. But he added that less than 1/3 are ready for combat."

Here is the problem we have; Bush and Company don't need to define what a "trained" Iraqi security force is.

Example - Back to the President's estimate of 100,000 during the Presidental Debate; 40,000 of the 100,000 trained security personnel the President referred were members of the Iraqi National Guard, which plays a support role to coalition forces. National Guard personnel receive anywhere between a few days and two or three weeks of non-standardized training. Most Guard members have no capacity or very limited capacity to act independently in a combat situation. So while it is accurate to say they are trained, they are not prepared or capable to take the place of American and other coalition troops.

For the Iraqi police it's worse; As of October '04, of the 85,000 Iraqi police in uniform, more than half have received no training at all.

Personally, I can't understand why Bush still feels the need to lie. Iraq appears to be moving forward at a good pace, violence seems to be down, we're hearing less reports about Iraq forces running and hiding from the violence or working against us. If they just try being honest for once, the American people can be patient. But as we say often in Robioland, when we're talking about Bush Inc., that would be too easy.