Independent journalist Nir Rosen joins us in our firehouse studio soon after returning from three months in Iraq, his latest visit since moving to Baghdad to cover the US invasion in 2003. “It’s been propagated by the right and accepted by the left in the US that the surge, which is really an escalation of troops […] by 30,000 soldiers, somehow brought peace to Iraq,” Rosen says. “This is just an absolute lie. Violence has subsided somewhat in Baghdad, that’s true, but it’s not the result of the increase in American troops directly. It’s the result of a few other factors.” [includes rush transcript]