Froomkin calls Bush a liar

Without using the L-word, that is.

President Bush is pushing a revisionist explanation of how he came to support an escalation of troop strength in Iraq.

From the transcript of Bush's remarks at a Georgia military base yesterday:

"The [Iraqi] Prime Minister came and said, look, I understand we've got to do something about this violence, and here is what I suggest we do. Our commanders looked at it, helped fine-tune it so it would work. . . .

"The commanders on the ground in Iraq, people who I listen to -- by the way, that's what you want your Commander-in-Chief to do. You don't want decisions being made based upon politics, or focus groups, or political polls. You want your military decisions being made by military experts. And they analyzed the plan and they said to me, and to the Iraqi government, this won't work unless we help them. There needs to be a bigger presence. . . .

"And so our commanders looked at the plan and said, Mr. President, it's not going to work until -- unless we support -- provide more troops. And so last night I told the country that I've committed an additional -- a little over 20,000 more troops, five brigades of which will be in Baghdad."

It was a bold attempt by Bush to rebut the widely-reported story that he stopped listening to his commanders -- and in fact, reassigned some -- when they stopped telling him what he wanted to hear.

But Bush's new story lacks a certain important quality: Believability.

Froomkin goes on to highlight several important pieces of journalism that rebut Bush's contention that the escalation grew out of a proposal from the Iraqi prime minister.

But, really, all you need to do is look at the above quote:

"The [Iraqi] Prime Minister came and said, look, I understand we've got to do something about this violence, and here is what I suggest we do.

I'm supposed to believe that Nouri al-Maliki speaks English with a good ol' boy Texas affect? Come on.