1115.org

Pretty early into al-Maliki’s Basra folly — which the Bushmen and their enablers, of course, are still trumpeting as a great success (because that’s what they do) — it became clear that the ground realities did not uniquely comport with the propaganda spin from Bush and his merry band of Bushies.

Dana Perino — who has surely lost more credibility by now than she ever had to begin with? — was giving us:

This is an Iraqi-led and Iraqi-initiated operation, and this is what we have been wanting to see the Iraqis do, is to take on more responsibility.

Bush was going:

…we are helping, but it’s important to know that the Iraqis are in the lead. This is a positive moment in the development of a nation that can govern itself and defend itself and sustain itself. We will provide oversight and, on occasion, support when asked. This is an Iraqi operation.

It is not known whether the WP toyed with the notion of using the headline: “Bush Lied!” We can only report that they went with the sub-heading: “Americans Appear To Take the Lead As Iraqi Units Wait”, and this is what they said under that sub-heading:

U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting.

And now, Time reports (can someone please explain to me why it is a universal rule that Time has to be referred to as Time magazine, although Newsweek is to be called Newsweek?) that the troops on the ground are starting to call their Commander-in-Chief a liar:

And at least one American soldier said he was angry that the role of Iraqi troops was exaggerated after the battle. “A gunfight broke out and we were fighting [the Mahdi Army] for about four hours,” the soldier told TIME. “The army article made it sound like we were just there supporting the Iraqi Army, but we did all the work. We just had four humvees out there with some Iraqi [troops].”

That fog of war is mighty thick around the White House, isn’t it?