Following up on remarks he made on Meet the Press on Sunday, Senator Biden again called on President Bush to level with the American people about our progress in Iraq and hold Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld accountable for the situation there.

Biden disputed administration claims that more than 175,000 Iraqis have been trained to take over security duties from U.S. troops.

In reality, only a few thousand Iraqi troops are capable of carrying out security operations on their own, and another 12,000 or so can operate successfully only with the help of U.S. troops, Biden said. He said there is “no possibility” of Iraqis being able to maintain control themselves without at least another year of training.

“Why doesn’t the president just tell the truth?” said Biden, adding that Rumsfeld should have been fired a year ago for incompetence — whether it be sending too few U.S. troops or failing to equip them adequately — that approaches “criminal.”

“The president’s got to get rid of Rumsfeld,” he said

The AP has the full story.

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