Just How Big is the U.S. Footprint in Iraq? Even the Spokesman Can’t Say

Foreign Policy: The Pentagon is refusing to release the total number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq, despite claiming for months that the full force is holding steady at around 3,800. On Monday, a Baghdad-based military spokesman for the U.S. effort in Iraq said he has been ordered not to divulge the true number, which could be hundreds higher than that. The spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, is himself not counted among U.S. troops on the ground, despite being based in Baghdad since last September.

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