Speaking to the BBC today, President Obama “ruled out” sending ground troops to Syria, even though he’s already sent 50 troops to the country, and has been reported for months to be planning a major escalation of that.

And the escalation didn’t take long, for even as Obama’s comments were being publicized, US officials confirmed that Obama is planning to send another 250 ground troops into Syria to join the troops already there. This was said to have been on the upper end of the proposals being pushed by the Pentagon.

This only adds to the farce surrounding the ISIS war, which started with President Obama vowing “no boots on the ground,” and now covers not just the 300 troops that will be in Syria after this escalation, but over 5,000 US ground troops in Iraq, including some participating in direct combat operations.

President Obama sought to revise his comments in December, claiming “no boots on the ground” really just meant no full combat battalions, though even in this case the distinction is seeming less meaningful, as the US has many battalions worth of troops on the ground in Iraq, and has for months.