"Al Qaeda Forces 7 Children To Die"

No, that's not the headline atop this AP/Yahoo story this a.m.; it is much more predictable than that:

US-led airstrike fills 7 afghan [sic] children

The story makes it clear that a considerable surveillance effort was made to confirm that the target, which included a madrassa, did not have children in it, and quotes this more realistic take on what happened when US jets went in, in support of Afghan troops:

Coalition troops had "surveillance on the compound all day and saw no indications there were children inside the building," said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. He accused the militants of not letting the children leave the compound that was targeted.

"If we knew that there were children inside the building, there was no way that that airstrike would have occurred," said Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, another coalition spokesman.

Unbelievable? No, no matter what you're asking.

Is it unbelievable that al Qaeda might indeed be culpable? Not at all. Truth is, after all, truth, and we know from vast experience that Islamists will use children to promote their cause -- either using them as a cover for a bomber who then blows them up, or seeing that they become "'helpless victims" of U.S. or Israeli aggression.

What sort of school keeps children inside all day long on a spring day? Indeed.

Is it unbelievable that AP would headline the story the way they did? Not at all. The western media has shown again and again that it will fall for this trick -- the place-kicking Charlie Brown to the ball-spotting Lucy.