George W. Bush: Dumb Liar

Tony Karon: 'Reality check: George Bush'

The Claim:
"The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice." (Khan is the Pakistani nuclear scientist who shipped nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, Iran, Libya and possibly other states.)

Reality Check:
Observers generally concur that there's no way Khan could have acted without the authorization and support of Pakistan's military leadership, yet the U.S. accepted an outcome in which Khan received a slap on the wrist and wasn't even made available for questioning by U.S. officials, nor was any obvious attempt made to hold his superiors accountable — perhaps because of Pakistan's crucial role in hunting al-Qaeda.

In point of fact, Khan received a pardon. Bush says he was brought to justice. So when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, he brought him to justice?

The Claim:
Bilateral talks with North Korea would be a fatal mistake that would precipitate the collapse of the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Reality Check:
Some of the key parties to those talks, including China, Russia and South Korea, are in favor of the U.S. talking directly to North Korea in order to provide Pyongyang with security guarantees that would improve the prospects for success in the six-party process.

Plus, why do we need China at the table? Are they going to pelt North Korea with cheap plastic consumer goods? Is South Korea going to march across the DMZ? I don't think so.

The Claim:
We have 100,000 Iraqi troops trained now.

Reality Check:
There are around 100,000 people currently recruited to various Iraqi security forces, although the number who've been fully trained is closer to 20,000. And the number on whom U.S. commanders believe they can currently rely in frontline combat situations against the insurgencies is thought to currently number no more than 5,000.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

The Claim:
We have 30 nations in our coalition; our coalition is strong.

Reality Check:
There isn't a single Arab country in the coalition, in contrast to the wide Arab participation in the Gulf War. And the U.S. and Britain between them provided more than 90 percent of the troops. Moreover, eight of the countries that initially joined the U.S. have since pulled out their soldiers, and more are expected to follow. Efforts to persuade Muslim countries to send troops have foundered.

Instead, we are joined by those powerhouse countries Afghanistan (If we have 11,000 troops in Afghanistan, what help are they sending us? our own guys???), the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia.