Equivocating a Massacre
Topic: NewsBusters
In a June 4 NewsBusters post, John Armor plays the "But what about...?" game on the alleged Haditha massacre, bringing up for comparison purposes the deaths of dozens of U.S. troops via friendly fire (actually, mistaken bombing) at St. Lo during World War II. Because the New York Times did not cover St. Lo at the time but has covered Haditha, Armor concludes (without evidence) that "today’s Times is a willing participant in the effort to paint the entire American military as murderers," adding that "[e]vents like these happen in wartime."

Armor, however, doesn't bother to point out the major difference between St. Lo and Haditha: St. Lo, by Armor's description, was an accidental attack on U.S. troops; Haditha, by most media reports, was an apparently deliberate attack on civilians.

We can at least take some comfort that Armor merely misleads on his World War II-linked Haditha equivocation, unlike Bill O'Reilly, who simply made stuff up.