Does * even know what a Battalion is? He said their were 90 Iraqi...

[Up2Late]

...Batalions with "some 30 Iraqi Battalions in the lead."

That contradicts what General Abazade told the Senate, when he said their was 1 (ONE) Fully equipped and trained Iraqi Battalions. I he just making this BS up as he goes? :wtf:

[KyndCulture]

1. "The number now is ONE" --- he's pathetic....

[Canuckistanian]

2. Maybe he meant "troops"

On the other hand, I wonder how many divisions the insurgency has.

[neuvocat]

3. I can see 30 Platoons, but not battallions.

A battallion is around 800 people.

[expatriot]

4. It's kind of like a Battle Liger. nt

[RobertSeattle]

5. Mr. President, one more time...

"Soldier, Team*, Squad, Section*, Platoon, Company, Battalion, Brigade, Division, Corps.... Let's try this again..."

* = Sometimes not in the org chart

[boardwalk]

6. They measure Battalions in levels 1, 2, and 3; definition as follows:

Regarding Iraq battalions:

Level 1 Iraq Battalions can replace American soldiers on a one for one basis. They had 3 Battalions but failed some preparedness testings and so 2 Battalions were reduced to level 2 until they could be re-trained.

Level 2 Iraq Battalions can function on operations but with some American support necessary.

Level 3 Iraq Battalions function on operations but with significant American support.

It is kind of like the old grouping of students into Sections A, B, and C with the smart kids in sections A, the average in B, and the poorer students in C sections.

The idea is to train up more of the 90 plus Level 2 Iraq Battalions to Level 1 in the next few months and train up the level 3 to 2.

Its just pure training men to be soldiers.

[boardwalk]

7. I need to add:

When someone is talking about Battalions; you need to find out which level of Battalions they are talking about; level 1, level 2, level 3, or all levels.

[Hobarticus]

8. Welcome to DU, boardwalk!

Thanks for the info!

[ret5hd]

10. what about when the men you've trained to be soldiers...

end up using that training against you?

[Up2Late]

14. Your definition still doesn't explain why he said...

"...There are over 30 Iraqi battalions in the lead...," which most would interpret as him saying that he thinks we have 30, "Level 1" Iraqi Battalions.

[Up2Late]

9. Here's the exact quote from whitehouse.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051004-1.html

President Holds Press Conference
The Rose Garden

10:31 A.M. EDT

(clip)

"...John.

Q Mr. President, thank you, sir. A couple of weeks ago, you stood here in the Rose Garden with Generals Abizaid and Casey, and you cited the accomplishments regarding the standing up of Iraqi troops there; you said that there were 12 battalions that were working out of Fallujah and the western part, 20 in Baghdad, 100 across the nation. And then that afternoon, Abizaid and Casey went up to Capitol Hill, and said, well, there's one battle-ready battalion, which led some Republican senators to say, well, the situation is getting worse. So the question is, sir, it appears between what you said and what they said, something is not adding up here.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, what is happening in Iraq is the following: More and more Iraqis are able to take the fight to the enemy. And that's important to achieve our goal. And the goal is for a stable, democratic Iraq that is an ally in the war on terror.

Right now there are over 80 army battalions fighting alongside coalition troops. Over 30 Iraqi -- I say, army battalions -- Iraqi army battalions. There are over 30 Iraqi battalions in the lead. And that is substantial progress from the way the world was a year ago.

Success in Iraq is really important for our future. And to succeed in Iraq, we have a dual-track strategy. On the one hand, there's a political strategy, a constitutional process, and then elections in December. And the other one is the security strategy that you described.

American troops are -- have got two missions. One is to track down the Zarqawis and his affiliates and bring them to justice. We had success doing that, as you might recall, with the fellow in Baghdad. And the second mission is to train Iraqis, and we've got several ways we're doing that. One is, obviously, kind of your basic training route. The other is to embed our troops with Iraqi forces to teach them not only how to fight, but how to have a proper command and control structure.

Remember a Rose Garden press conference a while back -- I think it was a Rose Garden press conference -- where you might have asked me this very type of questions. I said one of the concerns we have is the capacity of the Iraqis to develop command and control. In other words, it's one thing to have people able to march; it's another thing to have the capacity to send them into battle in an organized way. One of the things that our folks measure is whether or not that's taking place. And the answer is, there is progress. There's obviously more work to be done, more units to be stood up, but we've got, as I said, over 30 battalions in the lead, and that's positive progress...."

(What a joke.):mad:

[Kingofalldems]

13. He's probably technically right

But as the General testified last week, these are backup battalions who follow the US soldiers around. Probably filled with Iraqi versions of Bernard P. Fife.

[sakabatou]

11. They're probably all BSing on something

[louis-t]

12. * isn't too good with all that military talk...

squad, troop, battalion..he jes knows what Karl and Rummy tells him to say.

[shadowknows69]

15. would've helped if someone in the press

called him on it. he would have imploded.

[leftofthedial]

16. well, yes, they just make it up as they go. have done since raygun

"Ah unnerstan that in the US army a battalion consists of 500 to 900 soldiers. But in the Iraqi army, see, a battalion is one or more Iraqi patriots either armed or unarmed. Ya see, a buh-TAL-yun is whatever Ah say it is. That's why it's nice bein' prezdnt. What I say goes."

[Up2Late]

18. LOL, love you accented spelling.

You'd probably love this web site:

<http://www.dubyaspeak.com/freshdubya.phtml>

<http://www.dubyaspeak.com/>

[Botany]

17. Sure and a super model from Rome is flying into to Ohio

to clean my house in a little maid's outfit and will cook me dinner too.

* lies non stop.

<Iraq has single self-sufficient battalion (500 troops), U.S. generals say

Iraq has single self-sufficient battalion, U.S. generals say

By John Diamond and Dave Moniz, USA TODAY

The Iraqi military has only one battalion - about 500-600 soldiers - capable of fighting on its own, U.S. commanders told lawmakers Thursday.>

[karlrschneider]

19. One of those things drum majors toss in the air, right?

I mean, he WAS a cheerleader...

[BrotherBuzz]

26. touche.....ouch

:thumbsup:

[Javaman]

20. Sounds like hitler in the bunker....

trying to counter attack the Russians with imaginary troops.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

21. Oh cmon!!

Everyone knows Battallions are folks that live in Bitaly.

:P

[ret5hd]

22. there's probably a brazillion of them!

[liveoaktx]

23. VIDEO-McCain- one battalion

Bush is a fool and a liar

[Up2Late]

24. Oh, but the best was General Myers telling Sen. McCain that Vietnam Vets

Who are making such a big deal about this insurgency don't really know what's going on. Oh man, he was almost spitting fire.

They showed a bunch of these clips on "The Daily Show w/Jon Stewart" last night, hopefully they will replay it tonight at 11:30pm
(on Comedy Central right after tonight's show at 11:00pm EDT/10:00CT)
very good show, if you missed it, tape it or something.

Or you can watch it by clicking the link below and clicking the picture that looks like this:


<http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml>

[Up2Late]

25. kick n/t

:kick: