Please note that the "over 200,000" figure was OVER three years ago. Then, with even Rumsfeld acknowledging the untruth of that, a year later he said some 64,000 fewer had been trained. That number was divided by a further factor of three by the Chair of the JCS. How one untrains 64,000 in a year remains a mystery. Obviously Bush & Co. have learned from puffer fish to do anything which makes the speaker look big and strong and tough at that moment for that audience regardless of realities. (And then they believe their own lies. Not even the puffer does that.)

"In March 2004, Rumsfeld announced "very good progress" in training Iraqi forces, whose numbers had increased "from zero to over 200,000." Nearly a year later, in February 2005, he gave the total as 136,065. At that point, Gen. Richard B. Myers, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated that fewer than a third of them were capable of fighting."

It does not take three years to train a person for the military. Many, many enlistments are completely up in three years. It doesn't take 3 years to train a policeman. We all know that. It doesn't take three years to train a competent pilot or nuclear reactor technician. Obviously there is NO "training" in the sense of creating a cohesive force willing to enforce the decrees of a puppet regime fairly and uniformly across the countryside.

Now, the insurgents are reported to have "training camps", both in Afghanistan and Iraq, where 6 weeks after attendance they have dedicated, fierce warriors who are willing to take on Western armies even though they have no air power, no artillery, no RPVs, etc. Those folks seem to learn very well and fast, with Toyota pickups instead of helicopters and satellite images. Do they get the smart ones, are their training methods more effective? It probably helps that they speak the language and know the local geography and culture.

How long Bush & Co. will continue to peddle the "training" lie will depend upon however long some people will believe it, and then they'll move on to the next lie. Which will probably blame Iran and Syria and al-Qaeda and Sunnis and Shiites.

Arf