The White House
President George W. Bush
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 20, 2007

Myth/Fact: Iraq Fact Check: Responding to Key Myths

      In Focus: Renewal in Iraq

  1. MYTH: The U.S. military only counts a killing as sectarian violence if the victim was shot in the back of the head.

  2. MYTH: Iraqis are not defending their own country or making any political progress.


  3. MYTH: Success in Anbar has nothing to do with the surge.


  4. MYTH: The military’s strategy in Iraq has just been more of the same.


  5. MYTH: Setting a timeline for pulling out troops regardless of conditions on the ground would put needed pressure on Iraq's government.


  6. MYTH: Al Qaeda in Iraq is a homegrown group of Iraqi Sunnis, not the same terrorist organization that attacked the U.S. on 9/11.


  7. MYTH: Shifting the mission right now to only fighting al Qaeda and training Iraqis would be a responsible end to the conflict.


  8. MYTH: Gen. Petraeus wants 130,000 American troops to stay in Iraq for ten more years.


  9. MYTH: President Bush is just putting a positive spin on a drawdown in U.S. forces that had to happen anyway.


  10. MYTH: Gen. Petraeus does not believe the war in Iraq will make Americans safer.


  11. MYTH: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is an agent of Iran and/or Muqtada al Sadr.


  12. MYTH: The surge was only supposed to last 30 to 60 days.


  13. MYTH: The White House and/or military “watered down” the National Intelligence Estimate

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