Demagogue

CNN reported Sunday:

The U.S. military on Sunday said it was looking into how virtually identical quotations ended up in two of its news releases about different insurgent attacks.

Following a car bombing in Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military issued a statement with a quotation attributed to an unidentified Iraqi that was virtually identical to a quote reacting to an attack on July 13.

... Following are the two quotes as provided by the U.S. military in news releases:

Sunday's news release said: " 'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."

The July 13 news release said: " 'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.' "

But here's my favorite part of the article:

After questioning by news media, the military released the statement without the quotation.

Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, spokesman for the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, said use of the quote was an "administrative error." He said the military was looking into the matter.

Something tells me that the only "error" committed by someone in the U.S. military was this -- instead of making up a new quote, a military press officer tried to pass off the same fictitious quote from the same fictitious Iraqi man.

You can bet that the military's investigation into how virtually identical quotes showed up in different press releases will be conducted with all of the fervor that Inspector Renault displayed in the film "Casablanca."