From Brad DeLong who found it on someone else’s site, evidence that the U.S. is recycling PR spin… and that our press isn’t even checking to see when they’ve been fed the same line over and over again.

Needlenose: They really do lie about everything, Part CCCXXVI: An Associated Press article today quotes Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division on the progress we’re making against the guerrillas in Iraq:

At the same time, the cost of recruiting attackers is thought to have gone up, Russell said. Gunmen and other fighters that were rumored to be paid somewhere around $250 per attack are now said to be demanding as much as $1,000.

On a hunch, I did a quick Google search, and found the following in an article by a different Associated Press reporter in August, quoting Russell’s boss in the 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno:

The success of the raids has also made it more difficult for guerrilla leaders to mount attacks on U.S. troops, Odierno said. Guerrilla organizers have been forced to increase the amount they pay for attacks on coalition forces to $1,000 from $250.

”The pay has significantly gone up, which is a good thing because it shows they’re starting to have trouble recruiting people,” he said.

I wonder if the AP knows it’s getting recycled spin that’s at least five months old … or what they would do if someone brought it to their attention…

At what point do you think the press gets tired of getting lied to so completely that they actually start questioning what they are getting fed? Or am I asking too much?