1115.org

Once again the US military in Iraq (USMI, for short) has been forced to go: “Ha, ha, we lied to you (yet again), and we got caught fair and square (yet again).”

Jan. 21: Telling a Lie

Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded yesterday while repelling an attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) in Karbala, Iraq, military officials reported today.

Jan. 25: Denying the Truth

The U.S. military statement about the Karbala attack said “an illegally armed militia group” attacked the provincial headquarters building with grenades, small arms and “indirect fire,” which usually means mortars or rockets.
[...]
The U.S. military, which has said that five U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded while repelling the attack, denied that two U.S. troops were kidnapped.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman, said all American forces “were accounted for after the action.”

Today: ‘Fessing Up

The U.S. military confirmed late Friday that armed insurgents, dressed in U.S. Army-styled combat uniforms, abducted and fatally shot four American soldiers on Saturday in an attack in Karbala, 30 miles south of Baghdad.

One other U.S. soldier was killed while defending the Karbala compound, which was attacked by as many as a dozen militants, armed with rifles and hand grenades, a military statement said.

The statement differed from one the U.S. military released last Saturday, saying five soldiers were killed while “repelling” the sneak attack.
[...]
The attackers left the compound with four abducted U.S. soldiers, passing an Iraqi police checkpoint in neighboring Babil province, the statement said.

After crossing the Euphrates River, the insurgents abandoned five SUVs and their U.S. Army-styled uniforms and boots, which were found by Iraqi police.

Two of the soldiers were later found handcuffed together in the back of an SUV. Both had died from gunshot wounds, the military statement said. A third soldier was found on the ground shot to death.

The fourth was found alive with a gunshot wound to the head. Iraqi police rushed the soldier to the hospital, but the soldier died en route.

(Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for the Multi-National Division-Baghdad unit) said the U.S. military is “looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault.”

No mention of anyone looking into how or why USMI initially put out a false account of the incident, and continued to stand by that account till today.

The number of times the US military has been thoroughly embarrassed by being caught redhanded lying about incidents (just a quick shortlist, with no pretensions to being exhaustive: Pat Tillman’s death, the Jessica Lynch rescue, the Haditha massacre), one would imagine that by now they would either have learned to do it right, or had the sense to stop doing it.

I was going to add a sarcastic last paragraph. Something to the effect of: “If they can’t even learn to lie properly or have the sense to stop lying, is there any hope that they can figure out how to win or have the sense to stop trying?” But I’ll keep it straight instead. How difficult can it be for the Defense Secretary or the top US military commander in Iraq to lay down and enforce a policy of “We will not bloody lie any more”? I’ll confess I don’t exactly have a whole lot of experience as a Defense Secretary or a General, but it seems pretty straightforward. If you come down like a ton of bricks on whoever is responsible for one of these high profile lies, there’s hardly likely to be another one. Whereas if you keep looking into who was responsible for the breakdown in security and stay absolutely unconcerned about who was responsible for the breakdown in truthtelling, you’re pretty much guaranteeing that someone or the other will do it again.

It seems to me that General David Petraeus has just been given a golden opportunity to try and make sure that the honor of the USMI is never besmirched by such lies again. Unfortunately, I can’t say I have much confidence that Gen. Petraeus will seize the opportunity. I would, of course, love to be proved wrong. And will happily eat my words if I am.