Shown is an example of a leaflet being dropped in Afghanistan by U.S. warplanes. The Pentagon has not said whether the photo on the back side, purporting to show Osama bin Laden in Western style clothing, is doctored. (Dept. Of Defense via Reuters)

Analysts and critics called the work sloppy, damaging to the US cause, and more worthy of the supermarket tabloids.

''There's no mystery that we are held suspect in large parts of the world,'' said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. ''For just that reason, the US government must be sure that everything it does can bear scrutiny.''

One documents is a Defense Department leaflet dropped over Afghanistan to win the surrender of members of the Taliban or Al Qaeda. It includes a photo purporting to be Osama bin Laden in Western clothing, with his hair cut short and without his beard. It says of the terrorist leader: ''The murderer and coward has abandoned you.''

The Pentagon would not say whether the picture had been doctored. There have been accusations, especially in Muslim countries, that the US government altered the videotape it released last month, in which bin Laden talked about planning the attacks.

Asked about the leaflet at a Pentagon press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he wasn't aware of it. Asked whether people might see the leaflet photo as proof that the United States fabricates evidence, Rumsfeld replied: ''That is a possibility, that people will say something that's not true. There's nothing much we can do about it.''

A State Department ad offering millions in rewards, as shown in this handout photo, contains inaccurate information about hijacking ringleader Mohammed Atta. State Department officials acknowledged the reward money ad running across the United States gives apparent details about Atta that actually were borrowed from other terrorism suspects, or were inaccurate. (AP Photo/State Department)

Another questionable item was a State Department advertisement that ran in US newspapers and contained inaccurate information about Mohamed Atta, suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

State Department officials acknowledged that the ad gives details that are either inaccurate or that describe other suspects.

A part of the ''Rewards for Justice'' program to get information about terrorists, the ad pictures Atta. Its text says that he ''wanted to learn to fly, but didn't need to take off and land.''

That statement was never attributed to Atta, but was widely attributed to Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the attacks.

The ad also suggests that Atta ''was interested in crop-dusting - an obviously risky behavior - when he couldn't even get a plane off the ground.'' Atta did make inquiries about crop-dusting in Florida, but he had a commercial pilot's license and rented and flew small planes several times.

The State Department official said that Atta's picture was used because he was the best known of the hijackers, but the ad's text included a composite of activities from several hijackers and Moussaoui.

Muslim Americans said that playing loose with the facts hurts the government's image among Muslims.

''All of this hide-and-seek attitude really cuts into the credibility of our story, which is the strongest story,'' said Shaker Elsayed, secretary general of the Muslim American Society.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press

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