Posted on 08/28/2005 11:24:05 AM PDT by wagglebee
Retired General Barry McCaffrey said Sunday that claims by Sen. 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, Gen. 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."
Retired General Wayne Downing also challenged the credibility of Sen. 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.
Sen. Biden repeated his bogus numbers as recently as two weeks ago on "Meet the Press," insisting: "We have fully trained fewer than 3,000 - fully trained meaning they can take the place of an American troop."
With Biden's history of plagarism, it is a wonder that anybody believes a word out of his mouth.
Remarkably small divisions those Iraqis have.
How do you know when Sen Biden is lying?
His lips are moving.
Each Iraqi division is comprised of 600 troops,
That should read "battalion", not "division".
Why is it so hard for these "journalists" to get their facts right? Isn't that their job?
He must have stolen the wrong guys notes.
Each Iraqi division is comprised of 600 troops
Suppose to be battalion not division. The General misspoke. 110 Divisions would be an army somthing like 10 times the size of the USAs.
Each Iraqi division is comprised of 600 troops
Suppose to be battalion not division. The General misspoke. 110 Divisions would be an army somthing like 10 times the size of the USAs.
Each Iraqi division is comprised of 600 troops
Suppose to be battalion not division. The General misspoke. 110 Divisions would be an army somthing like 10 times the size of the USAs.
Does anyone pay any attention to Biden - other than the MSM?...when I run across something Biden has said I skip it...same with sKerry, Teddy Kennedy, etc......
Joe Biden is the lowest form of humanity, a low life "Traitor/Treason piece of Democrat Party vermin. Not only is he a miserable, lying person, but he is as butt dumb as one human can be. Can you imagine that this POS believes he POTUS material? He is either drunk with his ego, or he has been smoking funny stuff with Chris Matthews and company. Oops, sorry Matthews is strictly a sauce man!!! That's why he missing from the
"Hardball" show so often. He's in the tank drying out, courtesy of MSNBC who won't admit that Matthews has a drinking problem!!!
Everything about Joe Biden is Bogus.
Divide by the total population, and you may find it's a better percentage than our own country.
(I haven't actually tried this however...)
Biden is a thuggish, bullying, lieing sack of something you wouldn't leave in a flaming bag on your worst neighbor's porch.
Sounds like a perfect DNC presidential candidate.
Biden, as usualy doesn't know what he's talking about. The man is a habitual liar. Check out his record. The MSM won't. Go ahead, google him. You'll find out that he steals others written work, he's a self-aggrandizing blowhard, and one of the greatest self-promoters, in a town (Washington) famous for that kind of thing.
If the Dems are stupid enough to nominate him he will go down to a defeat of historic proportions.
How about the one last year when he said a General came to him as he was getting in his Helo and told him we were losing the war. Biden said he was the only one to hear it because of the rotor wash noise. I knew a lot of Flag Officers in my 26 years and I never met one that would have said that to a Senator. (maybe Wes Clark)
'Stephie' jumped out to a big lead by asking 'Lying-Joe' if we should just 'cut-and-run' in Iraq... but Biden, not to be outdone, nailed it when he said the new Iraqi government will be so bad that all our losses will have been for nothing.
Moral? Never underestimate a 'plugged' liar!
If these differences ever make it to the msm, biden will simply say he misspoke.(after all, few in the US know that that is the democratic term for lie) And it sounds so much better.
Joe Biden's field of expertise is hair transplants not military matters. Am I the only one fixated on his hair when he's on the boob tube?
I think it's funny that the only time the 'Rats even bother to trot him out is to tell a totally transparent lie. My guess is that he only gets to open his mouth when the talking point is so outrageous that the usual suspects aren't willing to tell it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.