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| Panel Hears About Falsehoods in 2 Wartime Incidents |
| 2007-04-25 |
| House Democrats burrowed into the histories of Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch and Cpl. Pat Tillman in a hearing on Tuesday, holding up the episodes as egregious examples of officials’ twisting the truth for public relations in wartime. They received help in making their case from witnesses who have mostly shied from the spotlight, Ms. Lynch and Corporal Tillman’s mother, Mary, and brother, Kevin, who enlisted in the Army along with him after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary,” said Ms. Lynch, speaking softly but firmly into the microphone as more than 12 photographers clicked away in front of her. Accounts from officials of Ms. Lynch’s bravery held the nation in thrall in the early stages of the Iraq invasion in 2003 after her maintenance convoy went astray near Nasiriya and she was taken prisoner. After her rescue, which was made into a television movie, she disputed those who said she fought off Iraqi soldiers until she was captured. She never fired a shot, she restated on Tuesday. The “story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting” was untrue, she said. Kevin Tillman was scathing in his assessment of how his brother’s death in Afghanistan in 2004, which was later determined to be a result of American fire, was initially portrayed by the military as an act of heroism in the face of enemy fire. “A terrible tragedy that might have further undermined support for the war in Iraq was transformed into an inspirational message that served instead to support the nation’s foreign policy wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mr. Tillman said. Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, promised to take his quest for answers in the case, which drew most of the questions from lawmakers, to the highest levels of the Bush administration. “We don’t know what the secretary of defense knew,” said Mr. Waxman, who has made himself a thorn in the administration’s side since Democrats took over control of the House in January. “We don’t know what the White House knew. These are questions this committee seeks answers to.” |
| Posted by:Dave D. |
| #9 I like P. J. O'Rourke's term "Parliament of Whores," but real whores would object, and with justification. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-04-25 22:44 |
| #8 House Democrats burrowed into the histories of Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch and Cpl. Pat Tillman in a hearing on Tuesday, holding up the episodes as egregious examples of officialsÂ’ twisting the truth for public relations in wartime. Cause we all know politicians would never do anything like that. I have no opinion on the actual matters at hand and am content to let the Army handle things. As for Congress: I think it needs a top-to-bottom cleaning, even if some good eggs (very small clutch, IMO) get thrown out in the process. I'm becoming more convinced that strict term limits are the only alternative to an ever more corrupt, disconnected, arrogant and dishonest Legislative branch. I have completely given up on Congress as anything but a fetid cesspool. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-04-25 13:01 |
| #7 Perhaps Waxman will demand the cancelling of the Silver Star awarded to Pat and then Tillman's brother will be happy? Mary Tillman reminds me of Cindy Sheehan while Waxman reminds me of Groucho Marx in vampire drag. Verlaine nails it, as does Kozlowski and Dave D...too bad Frank G is stuck with the Onion Tribune sports page again. |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073 2007-04-25 11:59 |
| #6 yeah - gritted my teeth and went to the Sports page. F*ckers |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-25 11:17 |
| #5 Frank G will also be greeted by a large block headline in the local rag today about this story - "Keep Quiet on Ranger, Tillman Told". After that one factual item's out of the way, it's a nauseating and infuriating classic of MSM distortion - implications that senior DOD or the WH must have known, uncritical relaying of Tillman's brother's idiotic remarks, etc. (sad to hear Tillman's brother sound so stupid and uninformed, as he apparently enlisted as well, to his credit - but he sounds pretty ignorant). It took a whole month for the system to figure out that one or two at the bottom had fibbed, and to take corrective action, as the investigation so far revealed. Scandal! As to Lynch, I didn't pay enough attention to it at the time to even get the details straight - guess I wasn't "in thrall" to the tale. As I recall, and Mike notes above, DOD put cool water on the Lynch thing pretty quickly, but the media continued its mindless carnival act for some time. Don't know about "both sides" cherry picking anything here, Mike, but the basic problem is that a distorted and sensationalized and serious allegation is, as usual, irresponsibly spouted by the loathsome cretin Waxman and then megaphoned instead of analyzed by the press. "egregious examples of officialsÂ’ twisting the truth for public relations in wartime". In one case, a handful of low-level "officials", in the other, possibly not even that much, just excitement over initial and typically inaccurate reports. Do any Republicans bother to show up at these things, to ask the obvious (not "tough") questions that the "press" obviously can't figure out? Oh, wait, that would involve lifting a finger to combat the hysteria and moronic and self-indulgent idiocy on war matters that is now "the national mood". Never mind. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-04-25 11:15 |
| #4 Let us remember Sgt. Donald Walters who fought heroically and died, and from Iraqi intercepts, Pvt. Lynch was initially credited with. None of these congress cowards are worthy to speak his name and none dare. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-04-25 08:50 |
| #3 ...Over at a couple of other sites - most notably blackfive.com - there are some VERY strong indications that the quotes in this article are less than accurate, but I fear both sides have done some cherry picking in this matter. One thing that is not being addressed by the MSM however is that in CPL Tillman's case, it's been known for more than two years that his death was the result of friendly fire - and in the case of PFC Lynch, DOD had the word out not long afterwards that the initial story just wasn't right. The MSM however wouldn't let it go. Anyone who ever did any time at all in uniform - and this may indeed be the problem here - would have known that you never believe the first reports of any incident, and given the confusion that had to have been present at both cases, I don't know anyone who took the initial stories at face value. That's not meant as any disrespect to PFC Lynch or CPL Tillman - both conducted themselves admirably. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-04-25 08:29 |
| #2 They also believe, very deeply, that the only REAL heroism lies in victimhood. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-04-25 07:35 |
| #1 An awful lot of noise over essentially nothing. Nobody did or said anything out of malice, and no harm was done. The fratricide was a tragic fact of war and it was promptly investigated to try to reduce recurrences. Tillman was a hero the day he enlisted - that was not diminished by how he died. I don't understand why the fratricide ever needed to become public - did it make the family feel better to learn he was killed by friendly fire rather than hostile fire? Based on his record one would guess Cpl. Tillman would have preferred being represented incorrectly if it benefited his country and his unit rather than correctly to the benefit of their enemies. And as far as I can tell, the people who have pursued this issue from the very beginning are enemies of the US military. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-04-25 07:31 |