Today on Weekend Edition (NPR), Scott Horsley was allowed to lie for Barack Obama yet again. Ignoring reality and what even NPR has reported, Horsley declared, "There are no more US troops in Iraq."
At this site, we've had many grateful e-mails from friends and family of troops who have not yet come home. That includes the 15,000 serving in Iraq who were not brought home but transferred to Kuwait, on the border with Iraq. There are, of course, US troops still in Iraq.
Just last month, RTT reported, "More than 225 U.S. troops, seven Defense Department civilians, 530 security assistance team members and more than 4,000 contracted personnel are currently in the office at the Iraqi government's invitation."
And December 13th, Talk of the Nation noted all US troops would not be out of Iraq by the end of 2011:
NEAL CONAN, HOST:
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. About 5,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and they will all leave by the end of this month. Yesterday, President Obama marked the end of the nearly nine-year-long war as a campaign promise kept. He stood beside Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday and reflected on the costs and said U.S. troops will leave with their heads held high.
NPR commentator Ted Koppel recently visited Iraq on assignment for NBC's "Rock Center" with Brian Williams. His report aired last night. His conclusion: The United States is not leaving. The largest U.S. embassy in the world, two huge consulates and more than 16,000 officials and contractors will remain behind.
Ted Koppel ran it by U.S. Ambassador Jim Jeffrey.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS")
TED KOPPEL, BYLINE: I realize you can't go into it in any detail, but I would assume that there is a healthy CIA mission here. I would assume that JSOC may still be active in this country, the Joint Special Operations. You've got FBI here. You've got DEA here. Can you give me sort of a menu of who all falls under your control?
JAMES JEFFREY: You're actually doing pretty well, were I authorized to talk about half of this stuff...
CONAN: If you've been in Iraq, what are we leaving behind? Our phone number, 800-989-8255. Email talk@npr.org. You can also join the conversation on our website. Go to npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION. Later in the program, we'll talk with Dr. Donald Berwick, who recently stepped down as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But Ted Koppel joins us now here in Studio 3A. Nice to have you in the studio.
KOPPEL: Well, it's nice to actually see you, Neal.
CONAN: Though the president cheers his accomplishment, you say not so fast.
KOPPEL: I do say not so fast, and I think he knows better. But he's right, he did make the campaign promise to get all the troops out, and all the troops will be out, save 157 who will be guarding the embassy, and a few hundred U.S. military trainers.
But as you pointed out, 16 to 17 thousand others will be remaining behind, and the extraordinary thing, Neal, is we're hearing echoes now of what we heard nine years ago. You know, we can't have that smoking gun be a mushroom cloud. No one is actually using that particular formulation anymore, but the fear of nuclear weapons.
And as last week drew to a close, Sean Rayment (Telegraph of London) was reporting:
More
than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by
the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the
past two years.
It
is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured,
several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as
"al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS.
The
SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which
also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS.
So Delta Force remains in Iraq as well.
And Scott Horsley remains a damn liar.
A damn liar.
Exactly when will NPR issue a correction? We won't hold our breath.
