Biden The Number-Fudger Strikes Again

Of all people, it was Bill Clinton's ex-drug czar that blew the whistle on Senator Hairplugs' latest Bushophobic Iraq fib:

Retired General Barry McCaffrey said Sunday that claims by [Democrat] Senator Joseph Biden that U.S. forces in Iraq have trained just 3,000 Iraqi troops to fight without U.S. help are flat out wrong.

Asked about Biden's contention, General McCaffrey told NBC's Meet the Press that the actual number of self-sufficient Iraqi troops was far higher.

"My judgment is today there are probably 110 battalions fielded, probably 36 of them are capable of taking a lead in active operations."

Each Iraqi division is comprised of 600 troops, McCaffrey said, putting the full number of self sufficient Iraqi troops at 21,600 - more than seven times what Biden claimed.

"That's a huge force and it's going to start to make a difference," he added, explaining that he based his information on personal discussions with "General George Casey in country and Dave Petraeus, a guy who's actually in charge of trying to build the Iraqi security forces." [emphasis added]

Nothing like going to the actual horse's mouth - something the Delaware Dissembler apparently didn't bother doing.

McCaffrey isn't the only "man who wore the star" to call Biden's dishonest bluff:

Retired General Wayne Downing also challenged the credibility of Senator Biden's pessimistic Iraqi troop estimates, telling "Meet the Press" that the Iraqi army had "36 good battalions now."

"A year ago, we only had one," Downing explained. "[We'll have] maybe three times that, maybe 108, 110 battalions ready by next summer."

"That would indicate that there's a possibility that you could start pulling U.S. forces out at that time," Downing said.

Every episode of the new Battlestar Galactica begins with an opening sequence that culminates in the tagline that the Cylons "have a plan." So, too, does the President. I don't personally think that its scope is nearly big enough, but for what it does include, it appears that that plan is right on schedule.

No matter what myths Joe Biden prefers to spin.