How can you tell when they're lying?

When their lips are moving.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq praised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday for cracking down on Shi'ite militias and Sunni Arab militants and said al Qaeda in Iraq had never been closer to defeat.

That's absurd on its face.
When we got to Iraq there was no al Qaeda in Iraq. So certainly they were closer to defeat at some point between then and now.