Taliban claims: I prefer the original AP headline

What is it with the Globe and Mail anyway? I mean one can take judicious objectivity (hah!) only so far:

IN BRIEF
Taliban claims of success appear exaggerated

AP

January 6, 2009

Kabul -- The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its figures for 2008 may be the militia's most startling claims yet.

The Taliban claims its forces last year killed 5,220 foreign troops, downed 31 aircraft, destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police.

NATO's member countries announce all troop deaths, providing names, ages and hometowns and how the soldiers were killed. According to an Associated Press tally of those announcements, 286 foreign forces died last year in Afghanistan, including 151 U.S. and 32 Canadian troops.

Here's the headline on the (rather longer) full story by AP:

Taliban whopper: claim 5,220 foreign troops killed

Love those Globe headline writers.

Babbler's update: Remember this the next time you hear about an American airstrike that kills a bazillion Afghan civilians "according to Taliban sources." One twentieth is the new standard.

Of course, if you think about it, there's actually some poetic balance to that...