On the front page of they New York Times Internet edition, Wednesday's top story was U.S. Military Says 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide, while the story listed directly below it was U.S. Report Lists Possibilities for Terrorist Attacks and Likely Toll.

Let me explain what's got my panties in a bunch.

The first story reminds Americans that we should be enraged about the high homicide rate of POWs. We should be outraged at what is happening to these Afghanis and Iraqis, but we're not. In fact, we aren't even going to blame the people in charge (i.e. Rummy). Let's face it: we've never been exactly complacent when this has happened to a US solider.

However, the second story is such an obvious fright piece, purposely set out to distract attention from the top story. For instance, the top fifteen "Nightmares for Disaster" are listed, and of these 15, all but 3 are terrorist driven (2 natural disaster scenarios and 1 flu pandemic scenario).

Are people so ignorant as to be fooled by this ruse? I guess many Americans are.

If the terrorist threat looms large 24/7, then we never need to justify our actions - is that the thinking?