Sacrificing Troops For Propaganda

No one in this country has failed to see that the sacrifices being made in the war on Iraq are those of the troops, their families, and our grandchildren. Today the Tillman family, who lost son and brother Pat Tillman, and Jessica Lych, are presenting the simple truth to hearings on Capitol Hill, that they were deliberately misled and purposively lied to by the army they served, to protect army 'brass' from disgrace.

Kevin Tillman, who served in the same platoon in Afghanistan as Pat, said the Pentagon purposefully withheld the true circumstances of his death from the family and sought to distract the public from the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraid prison facility in Iraq.
(snip)
'The content of the multiple investigations reveal a series of contraditions that strongly suggest delierate and careful misrepresentations,' Tillman said.
(snip)
Lynch said she was later overwhelmed with repeated stories of 'the little girl Rambo from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting.'

It was not true,' she said.

As noted in the interview I posted yesterday, Mary Mapes was privileged to have the story of Abu Ghraib brought to her by some one who cared deeply about this country, much more deeply than those military agents who defrauded the Tillman's of the truth about their brother and Ms. Lynch of her own story.

It is an atmosphere that prevails throughout government, that influences a Wolfowitz to place his girlfriend in a high-paying job and lie about his own agency in that event, as Diane posted below. It is an atmosphere of lies that uses torture and denies that it does so, then includes in its conviction that the convicted cannot discuss what methods were used on him/her.

This government is a disgrace, and it should not have the ability to compel service from good honest people. Not the Tillmans, not Jessica Lynch, and not you and me.

(this post also at http://www.correntewire.com)