But for this speech they aren't even trying to just misdirect the audience with irrelevant facts. This time Bush just flat lied. He stated that there are 36 nations "with troops on the ground" in Iraq at this time. So Spencer Ackerman at TPM Muckraker was finally able to get the list of countries that the White House counted in that 36. Here is an annotated version of the White House's list:
Countries with troops on ground in Iraq
1. Albania
2. Armenia
3. Austrailia
4. Azerbaijan
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Bulgaria
7. Czech Republic
8. Denmark
9. El Salvador
10. Estonia
11. Georgia
12. Japan
13. Kazakhstan
14. South Korea
15. Latvia
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Moldova
19. Mongolia
20. Poland
21. Romania
22. Singapore
23. Slovakia
24. Ukraine
25. United Kingdom
26.Tonga[A]
United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (Not listed are countries that are providing forces in other categories)[F]
1.Canada[B]
2. Fiji
3. New Zealand [C]
NATO Training NTM-I
1. Hungary [?][D]
2.Iceland[E]
3. Italy
4. Netherlands
5. Portugal
6. Slovenia
7. Turkey
[Strike-through's, highlighting and footnote markers are mine - Editor WTF-o.]
[A] Tonga has already withdrawn its troops from the MNF-I.
[B] Canada has already withdrawn its single soldier from the UNAM-I.
[C] New Zealand contributes a single individual to UNAM-I.
[D] Hungary's participation cannot at this time be confirmed.
[E] Iceland's single individual is not a soldier. The individual is a Press aide. Besides, that individual is already scheduled to leave Iraq as of October first.
[F] Counting participation in the UNAM-I as "Troops on the ground" is stretching the concept of troops. That organization is a civilian agency.
So the real number is 34 countries with people on the ground in Iraq assuming that Hungary actually does have them there. But the UNAM-I mission cannot by any stretch be considered "troops on the ground." If they were withdrawn, they are not performing a function that would have to be picked up by forces from the MNF-I. That brings the real number as the Bush speech defined it (troops on the ground in Iraq) down to 32 at best.
This was certainly incompetence and probably a lie on the part of Bush's speech writer, and for Bush to present such sloppy material on national TV was a lie on his part. Bush is directly responsible for the accuracy of the material in the speeches he gives, even if he does not write and vet them himself. If it had not been Bush's intent to stretch the apparent international appearance of the military force in Iraq, then he would have used only the twenty-five nations belonging to the Multi-National Force in Iraq in his speech.
Bush is pushing the occupation of Iraq like a sleazy used car salesman in a cheap suit trying to sell a clunker to a rube. Almost as bad is the clear incompetence with which Bush is performing. The easily verified errors and lies in his speech show a level of incompetence that should never occur in the Office of the President and certainly should never appear on National TV.
Is there any wonder that no one except hard core Republicans trusts a single thing that the White House asserts as true?
Explanation of organizational acronyms:
- MNF-I is the acronym for Multi-National Force-Iraq. This replaces the term Bush originally used - "Coalition of the Willing" - and is the military command currently commanded by Gen. David Petreaus.
- NTM-I is the NATO Training Mission - Iraq. This NATO task force providing training to Iraqi Officers and Civilians.
- UNAM-I is the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq. It is the UN organization providing aid to rebuild Iraq.
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