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2007-04-25 Home Front: WoT

Panel Hears About Falsehoods in 2 Wartime Incidents

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Posted by Dave D. 2007-04-25 06:43|| || Front Page|| [11132 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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">Glenmore 2007-04-25 07:31|| 2007-04-25 07:31|| Front Page Top

#2 They also believe, very deeply, that the only REAL heroism lies in victimhood.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2007-04-25 07:35|| 2007-04-25 07:35|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2007-04-25 08:29|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2007-04-25 08:50|| Front Page Top

#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 officials 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|| 2007-04-25 11:15|| Front Page Top

#6 yeah - gritted my teeth and went to the Sports page. F*ckers

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-04-25 11:17|| 2007-04-25 11:17|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2007-04-25 11:59|| Front Page Top

#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 officials 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|| 2007-04-25 13:01|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2007-04-25 22:44|| Front Page Top

23:39 JosephMendiola
23:31 DMFD
23:29 JosephMendiola
23:26 DMFD
23:25 JosephMendiola
23:24 DMFD
23:24 ryuge
23:22 USN, ret.
23:22 Zenster
23:19 DMFD
23:13 CrazyFool
23:11 Zenster
22:59 JosephMendiola
22:59 USN, ret.
22:54 JosephMendiola
22:47 ryuge
22:44 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:36 JosephMendiola
22:30 Zenster
22:25 JosephMendiola
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22:22 JosephMendiola
22:14 Flagum Gonque3645