On July 12 President Bush gave a speech on the status of Iraq. Surprisingly, his claims didn’t always match up entirely with the objective truth. Here are five examples:
Al Qaeda
Audio, 0:19
President Bush: “There is a perception in the coverage that al Qaeda may be as strong today as they were prior to 9/11. That’s just simply not the case. I think the report will say since 2001, not prior to September 11, 2001.”
“A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al-Qaida has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001.” [AP]
The Benchmarks
Audio, 0:07
President Bush: “Of the 18 benchmarks Congress asked us to measure, we can report significant progress is being made in 8 areas.”
“Officials stressed that the report does not claim that any of the benchmarks have been fully met, only that in some cases there has been forward movement.” [Washington Post]
“The administration’s decision to qualify many of the political benchmarks will enable it to present a more optimistic assessment than if it had provided the pass-fail judgment sought by Congress when it approved funding for the war this spring.” [NY Times]
“In some of the areas where progress was described as satisfactory, the report nonetheless noted a need for improvement. For example, it said that the Iraqi government had basically fulfilled one of the benchmark goals by establishing committees to support the security plan in the capital, but noted that the committees’ contribution ‘to date has not been adequate.’” [NY Times] [NSN Fact Check Sheet]
Political Gains
Audio, 0:22
President Bush: “The strategy I announced in January is designed to seize the initiative and create those conditions. It’s aimed at helping the Iraqis strengthen their government, so it can function even amid violence. It seeks to open space for Iraq’s political leaders to advance the difficult process of national reconciliation, which is essential to lasting security and stability.”
“Meanwhile, in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, senior intelligence officials said there has been no meaningful positive change in Iraq since January, when a starkly pessimistic National Intelligence Estimate warned that even if security improved, violent sectarian divisions threatened to destroy the government.” [Washington Post]
Violence In Iraq
Audio, 0:14
President Bush: “Since the reinforcements arrived, things have changed. For example, I would remind you Anbar Province was considered lost. Maybe some of you reported that last fall.And yet today, because of what we call bottom-up reconciliation, Anbar Province has changed dramatically.”
“While violence has dropped dramatically in Anbar Province, the number of attacks has risen sharply in four other provinces: Baghdad, Salahaddin, Diyala and Basra.” [ABC News]
According to a recent military assessment, “the overall level of violence in the country — measured as the number of ‘violent incidents’ — hit its highest level in June since the war began.”The Numbers: “An average of 178 attacks a day were carried out in June. By comparison, there were only 94 attacks a day in March 2006, the month after the attack on the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra touched off a wave of sectarian violence.” [ABC News]
CIA Director Mike Hayden’s comments, November 2006
Audio, 0:12
President Bush: “(Haden) then went on to say that our strategy needed to help get the violence down so there could be political reconciliation from the top down as well as from the bottom up.”
CIA Director Mike Hayden “said ‘the inability of the government to govern seems irreversible,’ adding that he could not ‘point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around,’ according to written records of his briefing and the recollections of six participants.” [Washington Post]
Can you explain exactly which details are false? I don’t understand.
— Megan - Jul 18, 01:58 PM - #