For the past several months, an ex-Marine named Jimmy Massey has been talking about American troops committing atrocities in Iraq. He was lying.

For the past few days, various liberal bloggers have been relaying a story, originally out of Italian news, that American troops used white phosphorus incendiary rounds --- a bit like napalm, only a whole lot worse --- against civilians in their invasion of Fallujah. According to the Army's own writeup of the action, those are true.

In certain respectable circles, I'm sure you'll be hearing a whole lot more about the first of these stories than the second. The same respectable circles that are using similar frauds from the Vietnam era to try to discredit the testimony at John Kerry's "Winter Soldier" investigation into atrocities in Vietnam.

I guess it's awfully convenient for them that people crop up spreading bogus stories. Odd coincidence, though. But just that. Maybe they're napalming civilians, but they're surely above releasing an agent provocateur at home to poison the national discourse?

Update: Several commenters note this article, which at least tries to debunk Massey's debunkers...