Most week's it's hard. But then, last week, Antiwar Radio posted an interview of Scott Horton talking to Gareth Porter.
Gareth Porter hasn't just carried the water for Team Obama, he's washed their jock straps . . . in his mouth. This happened repeatedly in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he showed a tiny bit of independence and we then came last week.
The Iraq War hasn't ended. Negotiations continue for 'trainers' (though Moqtada's called for Nouri not to go to DC in December), the CIA will remain in Iraq, Special-Ops will remain in Iraq, and surrounding areas (especially Kuwait) are becoming staging areas, the massive US Embassy in Baghdad (and its satellites in Iraq) will house thousands including contractors and US military. But there was Gareth babbling away:
Well I know that this marks the end of the fiction that the United States could actually have a longterm presence in Iraq in -in Iraq which was of course the, uh, the aspiration of the Bush administration and then, you know, despite the campaign promise by Barack Obama, the national security state again prevailed on Obama to try to maintain a significant US military presence. Uh, they put a lot of pressue on him to do that. Uh, and in the middle of last year, 2010, it appeared that they had gotten the White House to go along with the scheme . . .
You know what's worse than that? Scott Horton agreeing. Scott Horton rushing to agree.
Gareth returned to mouth washing Barack's jock -- while Barack was wearing it.
It was never, you understand, Barack wanting this ("Really," C.I. asks. "Maybe it's time to note the infamous 2008 interview that the bulk of you assholes ignored? Maybe it's time to quote Barack's own words back toyou?"), he made his campaign promise and planned to keep it -- Gareth wants you to know -- but the national security state was pressuring Barack. That is so much garbage.
And then there's the claim that the US isn't going to be occupying Iraq. If it were only the Embassy in Baghdad, the US would still have a huge presence.
Let's drop back to October 12th, when the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations held a hearing and note part of the Subcommittee Chair's opening statement.
Chair Jason Chaffetz: To fill the void left by the Defense Department, the State Department will hire thousands of private contractors to complete the mission. In all, the State Department's footprint will balloon to approximately 17,000 personnel. And, according to the Government Accountability Office, the GAO, nearly 14,000 will be private contractors. These contractors will perform a wide range of tasks including life support services and logistics. They will also recover downed aircraft and personnel, dispose of ordnance and tranport personnel. State Department will also hire a private army of nearly 7500 security contractors to do everything from guarding the walls and gates to guarding VIP convoys and flying UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles]. While they will have the abilities of sense and warn of incoming ordnance, they will not have the ability to shoot it down. I find this puzzling. I'd like to discuss this further. So as the Defense Department winds down, the State Department is ramping up in what may be more of a political shell game than a drawdown of forces. When President Obama tells the American people that forces will be out of Iraq, I'm not sure the average American understands that the troops will be replaced with a private army of security contractors.
Gareth disgraced himself.
He won the dishonor of the Bronze Boob, he more than earned it.
We'd say, "Latch onto a nipple and enjoy, Gareth," but we're sure he already has.