The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XVII: "Pre-Surge Troop Levels"
Sarah Palin has repeated the fact that troop levels in Iraq are now back to pre-surge levels. This is not true. It is so untrue that even Fox News' Carl Cameron had to concede on camera that this was "arguably mathematically not the case." The only problem with that statement is the word "arguably:"
The Alaska governor is wrong because the number of troops on the ground
is still higher and the number of combat brigades is the same as at the
start of the surge in January 2007, according to Pentagon figures. Iraq
troop levels before the surge were at 133,500. While U.S. troop levels
in Iraq have been in the 142,000 range recently, today they are at
around 150,000 because of an ongoing troop rotation.
Cameron noted that Palin acknowledged "mistatements" but would not retract or apologize for any. So far, I have seventeen undeniable factual untruths from Palin that she refuses to retract.
