Remember That Story About the $1.6 Trillion?

It's true: I'm a lying sack of shit

Breathless accounts from Tuesday went worldwide with this nonsense about "hidden" costs for the Iraq war hitting $1.6 trillion and were dutifully picked up everywhere.

Well, never mind.

Somehow, I doubt the retraction will get nearly as much coverage.

Republican lawmakers have demanded that Democrats retract a report which says the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are costing double what was thought.

Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Jim Saxton said the study had "many factual errors" and should not stand.

They are the senior Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), whose Democratic members wrote the report.

It said "hidden costs" had pushed the total to about $1.5 trillion - nearly twice the requested $804bn (£402bn).

Higher oil prices, the cost of care for wounded veterans and the economic cost of pulling reservists from their jobs were taken into account in reaching the new total, the report said.

Some analysts questioned some of the figures, saying they were speculative.

In a statement, Mr Brownback and Mr Saxton said a number of "obvious errors" had been "quietly corrected" in the online version of the report without its authors alerting the press or public.

"In the rush to score political points, apparently no-one bothered to fact-check the report," the lawmakers said.

"When erroneous information is injected into the public domain, those responsible are obligated to publicly withdraw this information."

Mr Brownback and Mr Saxton said that "at least 24 multibillion dollar mistakes" had been amended on the web version of the report by Wednesday.

The White House had already dismissed the report as politically motivated.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said on Tuesday the JEC was "known for being partisan and political" and that Republican members had not been consulted.

Of course, actual facts do nothing to dissuade the unctuous Charles Schumer.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, chairman of the JEC, said: "What this report makes crystal clear is that the cost to our country in lives lost and dollars spent is tragically unacceptable."

Forget the facts, we have a soundbite to deliver.

I expect such perfidy from a lowlife scumbag like Schumer. Until the rest of the media outlets who reported this also retract and correct the story, I'll view them in the same vein.