Pentagon's changing message inspires distrust

There is a long history to bombing blunders - and one lesson the military authorities around the world never seem to learn is the importance of avoiding dogmatic descriptions of what they think happened.

These often turn out to be untrue or just half the truth and the aims of the overall campaign are submerged in a welter of claim and counterclaim.

The public relations battle is an essential component of war.

The latest disputed bombing in Afghanistan already shows the classic signs.

'Errant' bomb

On the one hand, there are the local people, talking to the media or their own government officials.

In this case, the story is that there was a wedding at which there some celebratory firing and then an attack out of the night.

But take a look at what the Pentagon web site has been saying about it.

"An unknown number of Afghan civilians reportedly are casualties following a coalition air patrol's response to hostile ground fire, a Pentagon spokesman said."

It went on: "US Air Force B-52 and AC 130 aircraft struck several ground targets, including anti-aircraft sites that were engaging the aircraft, US Central Command officials said."

The Pentagon admitted that one bomb was an "errant."

But then said: "It's unclear whether those casualties were the result of our errant bomb or from falling anti-aircraft artillery."