Iraqi Citizens Get the Talking Points

Seems like the RNC has a direct fax over to Baghdad:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Sunday said it was looking into how virtually identical quotations ended up in two of its news releases about different insurgent attacks.

Following a car bombing in Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military issued a statement with a quotation attributed to an unidentified Iraqi that was virtually identical to a quote reacting to an attack on July 13...

Following are the two quotes as provided by the U.S. military in news releases:

Sunday's news release said: "'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."

The July 13 news release said: "'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.'"

Ovbiously these are horrible attacks, everyone with any sense understands that. You don't have to buttress them by recycling fabricated quotes by Iraqi citizens to prove they're on our side. Or do you? Can we chalk this up to "an administrative error," as the military has claimed (although that's a pretty good administrator, to change the name from "the ISF" to "the children" to suit the needs of the story. Maybe there's an automatic "enemies of humanity" generator at CentCom), or can we glean that it's getting harder and harder to find Iraqis to speak out against the insurgency, for fear of their lives or for a certain contempt for the US military presence that has brought this constant violence to their shores?

It's amazing how easily, quickly, and cavalierly the military will lie, no matter how big or small that lie is. This is a small one but it's instructive. If you're making shit up about the unimportant stuff, how much can you be trusted about anything? Like "the war will last six months," which is what Rumsfeld said two and a half years ago?

Everybody lies in war. We seem determined to lie about everything.