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Over and over, civilians died, the military denied it, only, in the most public cases, to have to back down when a reporter was able to check out the claims. "Insurgents" killed would turn out to wedding parties, despite Pentagon denials.
Now a blogger has discovered a version of this in Afghanistan [see also the Raw Story accoun t]. Magically, almost every US air strike kills 30 or so "Taliban insurgents." Researchers know that if a data set contains an overabundance of certain numbers beyond chance levels, fraud or gross error is the most likely explanation. So, it appears that the military is either grossly incompetent or routinely committing fraud in reporting their "kill" data.
n either case, fraud or gross error, we should draw the same implications. If the military is presenting false information regarding how many were killed, there is no reason we should believe other aspects of their report, such as who was killed. Were they "insurgents?" Civilians? Goats? We have no idea until and unless there is independent verification.
Thanks to the Pentagon, this time under President Obama, we are again reminded that Truth is the first casualty of war. What I find saddest is that the media even find government claims of this type, given the extensive track record of lies and obfuscations. Surely any media doing its job would routinely remind its readers that government spokespersons exist to spin and dissemble, not to inform.
