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.”Or as Fred Kaplan says: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….
Bush also thanked “the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq.” But the State Department’s most recent weekly report on Iraq said there are 25 countries supplying 11,685 troops—about 7 percent of the size of the U.S. forces….
The president also painted a relatively favorable picture of Baghdad, saying that a year ago much of it “was under siege” but that today “ordinary life is beginning to return.” He did not mention that much of the once-heterogeneous city has been divided into Shiite and Sunni enclaves.
President Bush’s TV address tonight was the worst speech he’s ever given on the war in Iraq, and that’s saying a lot. Every premise, every proposal, nearly every substantive point was sheer fiction. The only question is whether he was being deceptive or delusional.
And of course the big lie is that we’re drawing down troops out of anything other than necessity. Bush has left our military in ruins, 60% of the country wants this war to end now, and the Democrats cower in fear of doing anything
Cut the money for the war
