Of handfuls, battalions, trained Iraqis and fucking lies:

Bush speech, December 18, 2005:

First, our Coalition will remain on the offense -- finding and clearing out the enemy, transferring control of more territory to Iraqi units, and building up the Iraqi Security Forces so they can increasingly lead the fight. At this time last year, there were only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions ready for combat. Now, there are more than 125 Iraqi combat battalions fighting the enemy -- more than 50 are taking the lead -- and we have transferred more than a dozen military bases to Iraqi control.

September 30, 2004 Presidential debate:

BUSH: Let me first tell you that the best way for Iraq to be safe and secure is for Iraqi citizens to be trained to do the job. And that's what we're doing. We've got 100,000 trained now, 125,000 by the end of this year, 200,000 by the end of next year. That is the best way. We'll never succeed in Iraq if the Iraqi citizens do not want to take matters into their own hands to protect themselves.

You calc 125 batalions, 1500 guys in a battalion - so, we can leave right now, right George???

Thats better than 187,000 "trained Iraqi's", isn't it??

It is more than interesting to note that the only reasonably "sucessful" Iraqi effort -which happened in and around Mosul (a city that was supposedly pacified much earlier) - over the past months, was done by a group of ex-saddamists conducting business in a very "Saddam-like" way.

Well, Americans invented "tar and feather" politics. There is an election coming in 10 or 11 months. He may well have stolen the last election - but he sure can't do that in all 50 states - not when he has managed to piss off every liberal, conservative and libertarian in the country.

You can only play with numbers so far - and then they bite you.