New York Times Spins the News (So what's new?)

It took a few hours to come up with a spin which would diminish the apparent significance of the news about the capture of the most senior Iraqi member of "Al Qaeda in Iraq," but the New York Times came through at last.

Posted at 5:28 p.m. (EDT) on the New York Times web site was an article that focused on the disclosure that the supposed leader of one group of our enemies was a fiction made up by our enemies to disguise the foreign control of the "resistance" or "insurgents" or whatever you would like to call the murderous moslems who are the enemies of us and the Iraqi people.

Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the chief American military spokesman, told reporters that the elusive Mr. Baghdadi was actually a fictional character whose audiotaped declarations were provided by an elderly actor named Abu Adullah al-Naima. General Bergner said the information came from an Iraqi insurgent captured this month.

Not until the ninth paragraph did the NYT mention the status of "an Iraqi insurgent" who supplied this information.

The evidence for the American assertions, General Bergner said at a news briefing, was provided by an Iraqi insurgent, Khalid Abdul Fatah Daud Mahmud al-Mashadani, who was reported captured by American forces in Mosul on July 4.

And, although not attributed to anyone -- and therefore apparently the opinion of the writer or an editor -- was this cute bit as the eighth paragraph:

The struggle between the American military and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is political as well as military. And one purpose of the briefing today seemed to be to rattle the 90 percent of the group’s adherents who are believed to be Iraqi by suggesting that they doing (sic) the bidding of foreigners. An important element of the American strategy is to drive a wedge between Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, other Iraqi insurgent groups and the general Sunni population.

Aren't they the smartest guys around? Just in case their stupid followers don't realize it, the NYT tosses in its speculation that this may just be a ploy by the U.S. to fool the Iraqis.

I'm surprised Karl Rove isn't mentioned somewhere in the article.