I struggle to come up with a reason, other than an irresponsible attempt to minimize the impact of the horror, why the headline at a Thursday evening Associated Press story by Zeina Karam and Ryan Lucas about "more than 160 Syrian government troops" massacred by ISIS is "JIHADISTS KILL DOZENS OF CAPTURED SYRIAN SOLDIERS."

But that's how the wire service is presenting it:

So the apparent "logic" is: "Maybe the people who think they are oh-so-informed but are really low-info types will see that headline on their computers, tablets, and smartphones won't click through if the massacre is described as involving 'dozens.' And maybe that will buy President Barack 'we don't have a strategy' Obama, just a little more time to finally get around to something that sounds coherent, if not substantive."

That is, if the President deigns to find time to squeeze it in before his Friday fundraiser in Rhode Island.

And please don't try to explain it away by saying that the headline writers are just a litle slow in catching up with the full extent of the carnage. It has been known that the death toll was over 160 at least six hours ago.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.