Falling through Credibility Gap

This is sure to bring much gnashing of teeth from the wrongwingers. (What doesn't?) But CBS News is asking Was Al-Zarqawi Beaten After Bombing? Neighbor Of Slain Qaeda Leader Alleges U.S. Troops Beat Man With Beard 6/10/06:

An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al Qaeda leader.

The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News.

U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local man, who refused to give his name or show his face to the camera. His account could not be independently verified.

Now, I'm very skeptical of this story.

But after Abu Ghuraib, Haditha and various other atrocity incidents real and alleged, the US military's defensive and often dishonest public responses, and their anemic legal response to such war crimes, have given claims like this more credibility among the Iraqi public than they deserve.

And, yes, Bush and Rummy are responsible for this, as well. But our infallible generals shouldn't be allowed to duck blame for this situation. Their own cover-up instincts and their wooden-propaganda approach to "information operations" have created this credibility gap for themselves. And in the end, Americans wind up dying behind this kind of failure.

And when I think about my own skepticism of the story, the first thought that comes to mind is, "Why would the Americans want to beat him to death if he was caught alive? Rummy would want to put him in prison and torture him instead".

Our country is being run by thugs and bandits.

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