Being lied to

This is a must-read article about the U.S. torture of prisoners in Iraq. The whole article is sickening, but the real money comes in this paragraph, when the article describes the official army response to the death of an Iraqi general under interrogation:

Hours after [General] Mowhoush's death in U.S. custody on Nov. 26, 2003, military officials issued a news release stating that the prisoner had died of natural causes after complaining of feeling sick. Army psychological-operations officers quickly distributed leaflets designed to convince locals that the general had cooperated and outed key insurgents.

The U.S. military initially told reporters that Mowhoush had been captured during a raid. In reality, he had walked into the Forward Operating Base "Tiger" in Qaim on Nov. 10, 2003, hoping to speak with U.S. commanders to secure the release of his sons, who had been arrested in raids 11 days earlier.

Not that we should feel sorry for Mowhoush individually, but the home-front lesson couldn't be more obvious: don't believe a word the government tells you about what's happening in Iraq; it's all psy-ops, and the target is the homefront as much as Iraqis.