How Dare They?

Brother: Military Account of Tillman Death “Utter Fiction”

From the article:

As the tide was turning in the U.S. battle
against Afghan insurgents --and as media outlets prepared to release reports on detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq -- the military saw Pat Tillman's death as an "opportunity," Kevin Tillman told the panel.

Though it was clearly a case of fratricide, the military released a "manufactured narrative" detailing how Pat Tillman died leading a courageous counterattack in an Afghan mountain pass, Kevin Tillman said.

and

Lynch became a celebrity after U.S. troops filmed what they said was a daring raid on a hospital where she was being held after a March 2003 firefight. Lynch, the Army claimed, was shot and stabbed during a fierce gun battle with Iraqi troops that left 11 of her comrades
dead.

Hospital staffers, however, said there were no Iraqi troops at Saddam Hussein General Hospital when the purported rescue took place. They also said they had unsuccessfully tried to hand Lynch over to American forces before the raid.

It was later learned that Lynch never fired a shot during the firefight because her gun was jammed with sand. She incurred some broken bones when her vehicle crashed during battle.

What the hell? As the representative from California said:

"The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California. "That didn't happen for two of the most famous soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."

These kids don't need the Pentagon to make shit up so that they can be considered heroes. They are heroes for simply being there! To use them as props to propagandize an inexcusable, unnecessary war is not only disrespectful to them, but to their families and to the military as a whole. How can we believe anything they say now? How do we know that whatever they say isn't manipulation and propaganda to cover their sorry asses.

I hadn't really focused on this story, but Tillman's brother's face today made me take notice. How absolutely horrible and disgraceful. This administration continues to blemish all that is good about this country.

How dare they?