Rachel Maddow refuses to accept that US is withdrawing troops from Iraq

Maybe Air America Radio and MSNBC pontificator Rachel Maddow just can't help herself.

Here's what Maddow said on her radio show Monday about Defense Secretary Robert Gates visiting Baghdad and talking about a "shrinking" role for US combat troops in Iraq.

Maddow -- "That, of course, is slightly undercut by the fact that the president gave a speech last week in which he said there aren't any troops leaving Iraq, at least until after he's no longer president any more."

That "of course" is demonstrably untrue, as anyone who saw Bush's speech or read about it is aware. Here is what the president actually said on Sept. 9 about the alleged non-withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, as posted at C-SPAN --

"Today, I am pleased to announce the next step forward in our policy of "return on success." General Petraeus has just completed a review of the situation in Iraq - and he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that we move forward with additional force reductions. Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces (emphasis added)- including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces. By November, we will bring home a Marine battalion that is now serving in Anbar province. And in February of 2009, another Army combat brigade will come home. This amounts to about 8,000 additional American troops returning home without replacement. And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, General Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009."

Maddow also said something Monday that was unintentionally amusing -- "I think lying makes you look bad, I don't know. Maybe that's controversial."

"Maybe" only to Maddow.