HERE’S HOW CNN IS SPINNING the Zarqawi memo mentioned below. Of course, the memo is actually written by a non-Iraqi, about plans to stir up a sectarian war because Iraqis don’t want Al Qaeda to drive the U.S. out. Here’s an excerpt from the memo:

With some exasperation, the author writes: “We can pack up and leave and look for another land, just like what has happened in so many lands of jihad. Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases.

“By God, this is suffocation!” the writer says.

This is an absolutely unforgivable example of either (1) spinning the war into a bogus “quagmire” or (2) sheer inability to report the news accurately even when the “reporting” merely consists of accurately summarizing a story in a headline. (Thanks to the commenter at QandO who provided the link. I’ve saved screenshots in case it goes away.)

UPDATE: Glad I saved it — the headline now reads “Operative Sought al-Qaida’s Help in Iraq.”

Meanwhile Daniel Drezner has more thoughts on the memo. Short version: “Al Qaeda is losing in Iraq.”

And, while you’re at it, you might want to read today’s Winds of Change Iraq news roundup.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Grant Williams notes that the same story is being spun the opposite way here: “A letter seized from an al-Qaida courier shows Osama bin Laden has made little headway in recruiting Iraqis for a holy war against America, raising questions about the Bush administration’s contention that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.” Um, it only raises those questions for people who are either (1) idiots; or (2) pathological Bush detractors; or (3) both. Or maybe this is the all-new spin: The flypaper strategy isn’t attracting enough flies.

MORE: David Adesnik writes: “I think that this is a case of sheer incompetence, not bias, a possibility that Glenn acknowledges. If you read the article attached to the headline, its gets the story right.” Um, yes. But CNN didn’t write the article, AP did. CNN just wrote the headline. The most charitable interpretation is that CNN didn’t read the article either, and assumed that Iraqis must want to get rid of Americans because, well, who wouldn’t? . . .

Ryan Pitts argues that the error isn’t the point — the swift correction is the point. Everybody makes mistakes, and I’m happy with the correction. But I think that at the very least the error is revealing of a certain predisposition. And even Ryan isn’t trying to defend the other spin!

There’s a sense, of course, in which headlines are like the covers of science fiction books — nearly always more lurid than, and often completely unrepresentative of, what’s inside. But I don’t like that about science fiction books, and in the case of news articles it seems considerably less forgivable.