Obama kept promising that there would be no "boots on the ground" in Iraq. So far there are around 12,000 American boots on the ground. Or 6,000 Americans.
Officially, there are now 3,650 U.S. troops in Iraq, there primarily to help train the Iraqi national army.
But in reality, there are already about 4,450 U.S. troops in Iraq, plus another nearly 7,000 contractors supporting the American government’s operations. That includes almost 1,100 U.S. citizens working as military contractors, according to the latest Defense Department statistics.
Obama Inc. has found various ways around it. The troops are just there to advise and assist, the same old excuse, except when they end up dying in combat. Special Forces fighting ISIS doesn't count. Soldiers who come back as contractors also don't count. Finally we were told that it didn't count as "boots on the ground" unless it was a brigade.
A White House spokesman took the entire ridiculous goal-shifting mess to a new level when he claimed that, "We have been quite clear that there have been situations where combat boots have been on the ground." But, “The president has been quite clear about the fact that they do not have a combat mission. They have a training, advising and assist mission. That does mean that our men and women in uniform are going to be in harm’s way.”
Except they were and are in harm's way.
Obama Inc. went from trying to claim that there would be no American soldiers in Iraq to claiming that American soldiers in Iraq and Syria fighting ISIS wouldn't be in harm's way.
“We’re looking for opportunities to do more and there will be boots on the ground and I want to be clear about that,” Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told CNBC last month.
Okay then.
"What we're not talking about is an open-ended intervention. This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no American boots on the ground," Obama said.
Since then that's been upgraded to mean no "occupation". And Obama will define what an occupation is. If he doesn't send Occupy Wall Street to Iraq, it's not an occupation.