TV News LIES

George Bush's justification for the US troop withdrawal from Iraq – that the surge has promoted political reconciliation – is false.

The Iraq troop withdrawals President Bush announced on Tuesday at the National Defence University were much ado about nothing. The slight reduction in troop levels will keep US troop levels several thousand above what they were in January 2007 when he announced the "surge" of US troops. Bush administration critics will say the troop withdrawals are too little and too late, while supporters will echo Bush's "return on success" talking point.

The greatest myth promoted by Bush in his speech was found in this line: "Political reconciliation is moving forward, and the Iraqi government has passed several major pieces of legislation." By overstating the meagre steps taken by Iraq's leaders in barely passing a few relatively insignificant laws in their parliament, Bush's statement ranks right up there with his 2003 "mission accomplished" speech and vice-president Dick Cheney's assertion that the insurgency was in its "last throes" in 2005.

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Residents in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area say a suspected U.S. missile strike hit a house and a seminary linked to a top Taliban commander, killing at least 10 people. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad the strike comes as Asif Ali Zardari prepares to be sworn in as Pakistan's president on Tuesday.

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TVNL Comment:  This is the FIFTH US stike in a sovereign nation in which we have NO legal right to launch military attacks.  Is anyone reacting?  Anyone????

During the summer of 2006, from her office adjacent to the White House, deputy national security adviser Meghan O'Sullivan sent President Bush a daily top secret report cataloging the escalating bloodshed and chaos in Iraq. "Violence has acquired a momentum of its own and is now self-sustaining," she wrote July 20, quoting from an intelligence assessment.

The US military provided combat training to 80 Georgian special forces commandos only months prior to Georgia’s army assault in South Ossetia in August.

The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vlad­imir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had “orchestrated” the war in the Georgian enclave.

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An Iraqi police official says a car bomb apparently targeting the convoy of former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi has exploded in western Baghdad, killing two civilians.

But the official says Chalabi was not in the convoy at the time. He says 17 others were wounded including nine of Chalabi's bodyguards.

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The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.

"We know everything he says," according to one of multiple sources Woodward cites about the practice in "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," scheduled for release Monday. 

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