"Combat in Iraq is not over" AP tells its reporters

David Sirota, newspaper columnist and radio host, in an article published at huffingtonpost.com today, reports that the Associated Press is telling its reporters in the field:

Combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions
that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The situation on the ground in Iraq is no different today than it has been for some months...As for U.S. involvement, it also goes too far to say that the U.S. part in the conflict in Iraq is over...50,000 American troops remain in country. Our own reporting on the ground confirms that some of these troops, especially some 4,500 special operations forces, continue to be directly engaged in military operations. These troops are accompanying Iraqi soldiers into battle with militant groups and may well fire and be fired on. In addition, although administration spokesmen say we are now at the tail end of American involvement and all troops will be gone by the end of 2011, there is no guarantee that this will be the case.

Sirota notes the White House's "victorious declarations" of the end of the Iraq War are just "spin", because the war certainly continues, as a Los Angeles Times headline from yesterday makes clear: "U.S. soldiers help repel deadly attack on Iraq army headquarters."

And so Jeremiah's prophecy of doom upon the land of the Chaldeans remains viable, as we wait for the burning of the cities and the subsequent abandonment of the nation by the invader-occupiers.