Post #79

Subject: Where did that bright idea come from!?! :p

The Pentagon played fast and loose with the truth in order to “spin” the Iraq War. The death of Pat Tillman and the rescue of Jessica Lynch became tools for propaganda.

Pat Tillman, a one-time National Football League star, was killed on April 22, 2004, after his Army Ranger comrades were ambushed in eastern Afghanistan. Pat Tillman’s brother, Kevin, was in a convoy behind his brother when he was killed, but didn’t see it. Tillman accused the military of "intentional falsehoods" and "deliberate and careful misrepresentations" in initially portraying his brother's death as the result of heroic engagement with the enemy instead of friendly fire.

"We believe this narrative was intended to deceive the family but more importantly the American public," Tillman testified before Congress. "Revealing that Pat's death was a (friendly fire) fratricide would have been yet another political disaster in a month of political disasters ... so the truth needed to be suppressed," said Tillman. "We have now concluded that our efforts are being actively thwarted by powers that are more interested in protecting a narrative than getting at the truth and seeing justice is served," he said.

Congressman Henry Waxman, D-California, contended that the federal government invented "sensational details and stories" about the death of Tillman and the rescue of Lynch in Iraq. "The government violated its most basic responsibility," said Waxman. "The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth," Waxman added. "That didn’t happen for the two most famous soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars."

Tom Davis, R-Virginia, questioned how Tillman's death was handled by the military, saying it was a "disservice" to have let "a myth outrun the facts" about his death.

Good Lord. And on it goes…. * sigh *