The piece by Kevin Tillman is eloquent and powerful.  I've sent it on to a list of friends.  Thanks for pointing me to it.  One hopes truth can be an anodyne for painful and injurious lies. 

aMike

Tillman was an amazing guy. MJ, did you see where his mother said that the cover-up of his death could not have happened without Rumsfeld's knowledge. I agree with that. This went all the way to the top.

Thanks for Kevin's piece. Somehow I am glad that before his death, Tillman knew the war was predicated on lies. Oddly, I don't think he'd be surprised about how he was used and discarded by the Bush criminals.

The Tillman story stank from day one. There was no way a PFC would have been in a position to lead a section in a Ranger platoon. But since probably 95% of Americans don't know enough about the Army to know why that would be and any attacks on the story would have been spun as an attack on Tillman who I did and still regard as a hero I just let it go.

But the Silver Star thing was sickening. Tillman did not remotely do anything to earn it and probably would have been equally sickened to have been used like some sort of cardboard Audie Murphy for propaganda purposes. Each and every officer that endorsed the award of that medal knowing what actually occured quite literally committed a crime punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (false statements) and figuratively spit in the face of every awardee of the Silver Star. The top medals for gallantry have to be countersigned at a pretty high level. In this case the old adage 'it is not the crime, it is the coverup' might end up being reversed, 'it is not the coverup, it is the crimes committed exploiting the coverup'.

Everyone involved in approving that citation should be forced to resign. Certainly medals end up pinned on people who don't really deserve them, and even more certainly people perform acts of valor in combat that never get properly recognized, and even more certainly than that there is often some politicization in the process, but this was just so blatantly crude.

Very powerful. Simple and powerful. I needed to hear these words from someone who has been on the front lines. It validates my convictions and my positions on matters in my own universe, which are often ridiculed and mocked by Team Bush and their zombie followers.

"Our hearing today has been about two cases, the Tillman case and the Lynch case, and in both cases, it seems like we have - we say deceptive - misleading information - it wasn't misleading information, we have false information that was put out to the American people. Stories that were fabricated and made up." - Rep. Henry Waxman, Oversight and Government Reform Chairman

US Navy Seal Stephen White was Pat Tillman's friend and gave a eulogy at the May 2004 memorial service. White was put in the position of unknowingly telling the government's lie about how Pat Tillman died, "My role as far as at the memorial - it's a horrible thing that happened with Pat. I'm the guy that told America how he died basically at that memorial and it was incorrect. That does not sit well with me."
See Video:
U.S. Gov. Lies to American People and the Troops

It's a sign of how numbed we all are that there's no call for punishing the army propaganda officers, Bush Administration flacks and Washington Post and other "journalists" who were responsible for both these atrocities. Surely some laws were broken -- and if not, it's time we instituted new laws that will make Republicans think twice before acting so amorally, so cruelly, so inhumanly in the future.

Of course the lie had a shelf life, but this propoganda theatre was played out right before the 04 elections and in the aftermath of Abu Grab. After they secured the 45% plausibility vote and rigged the rest, there would be no serious ramifications, esp with a Republican congress.

This little drama has played out from the beginning. Remember the big play on the front page of the Times and other papers of the Bush tax cut and how they modeled a single black mother as a prime benificiary, suggesting that the tax would mainly benefit the middle class. Later it was revealed this showcase example did not even make enough to owe federal income tax. But was there a front page retraction? No.Not even a correction on A21.

Propoganda artists know that the "shock and awe" phase of the manipulation is all that really matters. Corrections are never given the same kind of splash. "Mistakes were made. We regret the error. We were just following orders." Ect.

Even now with the hearings, how much coverage is this getting? How much did the Gonzales hearing get covered in comparison to the then several days old story of the VT massacre, half a day's worth of death in Bagdad.

Rove's mastery of Goebble's techniques will continue. Little did it matter that the "jew" who was blamed for burning down the Reichstag was not responsible after the event was used for maximum political purpose. The Bush admin got maximum mileage out of Tillman. If some lower eschalon military personell take the hit, it matters little or none. Mission Accomplished.

The moyers thing is pretty damning. I am done with the main stream press. the wapo and nyt and mtp ought to shutter their doors in shame. i have cancelled my subscription to all of them. i used to respect these guys. oprah be damned. tim russert be damned. who are we supposed to trust anymore? we have been cheated and one billion stories about how the war is wrong will not bring back the 3000+ who paid the consequences with their lives. words cannot express the depth of my disappointment in the press, in my country. before you bang the administration's drum, i challenge you to see this piece and tell me why i am wrong. what the hell have we done?

Any thought on Tim Nein's Silver Star being upgraded to a DSC? I've had more than a few people say that the difference between a DSC, the Medal of Honor, and, once in a while, the Silver Star is who saw it and who wrote it up.

My impression was that there was an informal policy of keeping decorations low-level in 1991. AFAIK, no one got anything above a Silver Star. There was a Marine air squadron commander that went back time and again into the oil fire plumes over Kuwait, having to change aircraft several times due to battle damage, and continuing to quite literally lead. Unfortunately, I've lost his name, and would appreciate anyone who can tell me what it is.

HR McMaster may have qualified for a DSC at 73 Easting. I don't know that we really have a way to recognize the act, but a day or so later, he had a Republican Guard unit surrounded, a unit that seemed to want to make a last stand. Instead of calling in artillery and air, he called for an interpreter and loudspeaker, and spent a half hour talking them into honorable surrender, with no losses on either side. This is an interesting other side from a man that tore apart an Iraqi armored brigade, shortly before, with a reinforced armored cavalry troop.

Rhonda Cornum is another possibility, although she apparently was told, at the time, not to bring up the sexual attacks she suffered as a wounded POW, captured on a combat rescue mission on which she wasn't supposed to have gone, and still set an example of leadership. The attacks came up only later on when she was testifying before Congress on women and the military, and, as she put it, "worse things could have happened."
--
Howard

*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana]

He stole my idea, but I love him for it. I have a wall of tapes dating back, well for our context, to 2000. I record too much FoxNews, Sunday talk shows, CSpan, and the daily afternoon tickers, whitehouse press conferences and so much more.

I have almost 2000 tapes.

Moyers just showed what I've been trying to explain to my family and friends, some of which think i'm crazy for archiving. I tell them of the works of IF Stone and George Seldes, but they don't understand.

Its only when viewed thru the lense of time, do we see the story develop.

On Mar 19th each year, I play the opening salvo, "headstrike" of GWBush's little big horn.

I will say....its great to know who Larry Johnson is by having him on lots of my tapes. The CIA case was beneath my rader for a long time, but because it was on the same shows I was watching for the overarching messages about Iraq, I have them too.

Can't argue with the record.
What is sick,...some don't argue with it, they keep lying. Right Mr. Cheney?

Good question,

I just read a few briefs around the net last night and today, and for me it would take some hindsight. The first image is the "outnumbered" but "victorius" motif.

Heros are more local than that for me right this moment. I like that my representative calls me back on issues I need to know about. That's a hero. My last jackass representative had staffers to debate me off the phone so he could get back to his Republican Talking Points bullshit.

To me the hero is one who stands up and says I will go to the front line of Bin Laden's supposed lair, but I'm not going to kill Iraqis. To me a hero is one that would go stop the genocide in Sudan, but wouldn't be stationed in Bagdad, or anywhere in Iraq.

I'll give Tim Nein, Leigh Ann Hester, and Jason Mike their own fates. I don't trust their superiors any more. The same is true for Pat Tillman. I believe he thought he was useless playing a game when he felt maybe someone might hurt Americans. I'll give him respect for that basic ideal. My cynicism is directed at the politicians and pundits who sucked his marrow to prop themselves up a bit longer.

Rest his soul.

Nothing as serious as the Tillman cover up could have taken place without the knowledge of Bush/Cheney and Rummy. Having 3 Generals involved also tells me the White House knew about the coverup.

Thanks, guys, but I think I'll stick with my initial view of the military brass -- a bunch of dishonorable careerists. See, here, or Phil Carter, here.

And from Carter:

Instead of producing generals today, the Army is producing bureaucrats and managers. America's private sector is producing visionary leaders like Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Carly Fiorina and Larry Ellison. The military system gave us Tommy Franks and Ricardo Sanchez. Huh?