Bush has repeatedly claimed that “as Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” Tonight he said:
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.
If that’s true, why are there still 153,000 American troops in Iraq, as many as there have ever been? Why can’t 125 battalions replace a single American soldier?
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