Insurgent TTP:

When any event happens in which a civilian death, particularly of women and children, occurs immediatly blame the Coalition Forces. (The exception would only be if an insurgent was caught red handed and on film, then the insurgents will generally remain quiet on the occurance and try to divert attention elswhere).

For the insurgents the truth is of less (or of no) importance it is the timeliness of the spin. In this case it was a near spontaneous reaction. Nearly as fast as the explosion itself they had the spin machine rolling.

While coalition forces bring in experts to conduct forensic analysis to identify the true cause of the incident and wait to put out press releases the insurgents fire away with their version. They thereby gain the upper hand.

It is the nature of the beast.

We counter it through active and constant engagement with the population , the key leadership and a consistent information campaign. The burdens of proof will always fall on us. We need to generate a faster tempo on delivering the truth to gain the trust of the locals. Easier said than done, but it can be done. -T