Rule 1: Lie first, then see if the truth can be told

It seems the US government can't get any of its stories straight. First, al Zarqawi was supposedly killed in the bombing. Next, he died on a stretcher as he was being removed from the bombed out house. Now, there are reports that he was beaten (or strangled to death) by US troops after being dragged from an ambulance that was planning to take him to hospital.

Yesterday, the government reported that three prisoners at Guantanamo had committed suicide by starving themselves to death. Now, they are saying the three prisoners hanged themselves. It seems to be it ought to be pretty easy to tell the difference between someone who died of starvation and someone swinging from a rope in their cell, but who knows? What will we learn next? That the US actually hanged these guys for the fun of it?

Maybe this is just the fog of war, but it certainly seems odd. It's almost as though the government's first instinct is to lie about anything and everything and only let out the truth slowly thereafter.