LYING AS A MORAL VIRTUE: Slate's Scott Shuger has an interesting column today on "The Case for Lying About Terrorists." The column is about doctoring photos of terrorists for propaganda purposes, but it also makes a point aabout the ego-fueled members of the media who trawl for information that could damage our campaign against terrorism while claiming they're defending the First Amendment:

...as Churchill said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." In other words, war is about defending fundamental principles, and the protection of first truths often requires sacrificing secondary and tertiary ones. And the United States shouldn't try to project an image around the world of never lying but rather one of not lying about what's important. The first truth in this case—that the world's stability and liberty requires neutralizing Bin Laden—clearly trumps the principle that all government-issued depictions of people should be unaltered.

Or that the media has the right to know everything our government is doing to fight terrorism.