Opinion: The phony bin Laden photo

Our government obviously has more than enough factual evidence to make the case that Osama bin Laden and his associates are evil enemies of mankind who deserve no support in the Islamic world. Bin Laden is a mass murderer and hypocrite who has lured impressionable fellow Muslims into suicide missions and unwinnable military battles in the name of Islam, while going to great lengths to keep himself alive and free.

That's a powerful indictment in any language. So why did some U.S. officials feel the need to invent allegations against bin Laden and other plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks against our country?

A Defense Department leaflet recently dropped over Afghanistan includes a doctored photograph purporting to show a beardless bin Laden wearing Western clothes. The leaflet accuses bin Laden of having established a new identity while the Taliban and foreign Islamic volunteers bear the brunt of the American military campaign in Afghanistan. The phony photo isn't just unnecessary; it may have the counterproductive effect of raising doubts, especially in the Islamic world, about the credibility of genuine U.S. evidence against bin Laden. Many Muslims refused to believe the authenticity of the recently released videotape showing bin Laden bragging about his role in the Sept. 11 attacks. The doctored photo gives bin Laden's apologists an argument they don't deserve.

A recent State Department advertisement was similarly sloppy with the facts, publishing inaccurate information about Mohammed Atta, believed to have been the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Again, the indictment against Atta is easy enough to make without straying from the facts. That ad raised further questions about the work of Charlotte Beers, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Beers had a long career as an advertising executive on Madison Avenue and seems more concerned with the style, rather than the substance, of the information she oversees.

These were minor missteps in a U.S.-led military campaign that generally has been waged honorably and successfully. However, truth is our greatest ally in the long-term war against terrorism that has only begun in Afghanistan. Those responsible for providing information about the war should resist the temptation to take short cuts that detract from our image as a society that stands for truth and the other human values the terrorists are trying to destroy.

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