July 6, 2006: The large number of charges brought against 
    U.S. troops for crimes against civilians recently is 
    partly coincidence (the rate of such incidents is much 
    less than in past wars, but that is not considered news) 
    and partly right out of the al Qaeda playbook. Making 
    false accusations of atrocities, to attract media 
    attention, is recommended in al Qaeda training documents, 
    as a good way to keep the enemy off balance. After three 
    years of defeats, al Qaeda, and their Iraqi Sunni Arab 
    allies, are in need of some good news. Atrocities can be 
    created, by forcing witnesses to make false claims, and 
    to otherwise fabricate evidence. Anti-American media will 
    not examine the evidence too closely, and will instead run
    with the story. That most of these claims turn out to be 
    false is, again, not news, and the terrorists know it. 
    Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes, to some at 
    least, the truth.