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2007-04-11 Fifth Column
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House panel plans hearings on Tillman, Lynch cases
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SAN FRANCISCO A House committee scheduled hearings Tuesday on the string of misleading statements by the military following the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and the kidnapping and rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced it will hold the hearing April 24 as part of an investigation into whether the misinformation stemmed from a government strategy to mislead the public.
The hearings come two weeks after the Pentagon released the findings of its own twin investigations into Tillman's shooting, three years after his death, and four years after Lynch's kidnapping. The panel has been quietly investigating the Tillman case since that release, and decided to add Lynch to the scope of its probe. It will examine why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable, the committee said Tuesday in a brief announcement on its Web site.
The Tillman family and some lawmakers said the previous investigations were inadequate and did not sufficiently address the role of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in hiding the true circumstances of Tillman's death from his relatives for five weeks. The Army maintained publicly during that time that he had been killed by enemy fire, when in fact his fellow Rangers shot him after a chaotic ambush. The military concealed the truth although dozens of officers knew within hours or days that Tillman had been killed by friendly fire.
One or more members of the Tillman family will probably testify, the committee said. Tillman's mother and father did not immediately return calls for comment on Tuesday.
Lynch's spokeswoman, Aly Goodwin Gregg, said Lynch will also testify. She was very interested in doing so. She's used every opportunity to tell what really happened and to talk about the real heroes of that day, Gregg said.
Lynch, a 21-year-old former Army supply clerk, became one of the most visible faces of the war when she was rescued from an Iraqi hospital on April 1, 2003. Her convoy was attacked after taking a wrong turn in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah. Eleven American soldiers were killed and six, including Lynch, were captured. Her videotaped rescue by special forces from a Nasiriyah hospital on April 1 branded Lynch a hero at a time the U.S. war effort seemed bogged down.
| Bogged down? This was when the Iraqi army was folding like a wet paper bag. |
It also stirred complaints of U.S. government media manipulation.
| Which no previous administration has ever attempted. |
Early reports never stemming from Lynch or her family, and later disproved had her suffering knife and bullet wounds while fighting off attackers until she ran out of ammunition.
| If I remember correctly, the official military sources were tight lipped and urged caution about these stories at the time. It was reporters who got a story from a guy who heard from his buddy that he heard she was the greatest fighter since Sgt York |
Tillman was killed with three shots to the forehead after his Army Ranger comrades were ambushed in eastern Afghanistan. He and an allied Afghan fighter a few feet away from Tillman were killed by the same Rangers, who failed to identify both men as friendlies. His death got worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Details of the hearing entitled Misleading Information from the Battlefield, have not been completely ironed out. It was not yet clear whether the committee plans to call officials with knowledge of the cases to testify.
| Why let facts get in the way of your investigation? |
Though empowered to do so, the committee has no plans to subpoena witnesses, said one official involved in the investigation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the probe and hearing have not been officially decided.
The committee, run by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a frequent Bush administration critic, has launched several investigations since Democrats took power in Congress in January. But it has not issued subpoenas in any of its probes, including one into the administration's claims that Iraq sought uranium from Niger and another into contacts between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.
| Because getting subpoenas might mean getting accurate testimony, and Waxman doesn't want to discredit Joe Wilson any further. |
Another congressional official with knowledge of the current investigation said that although the upcoming hearing might only last one day, it could mark the start of much more sweeping inquiries by lawmakers. The House Armed Services Committee is also considering Tillman hearings, a spokeswoman for that panel said Monday.
| Getting ready for the election cycle |
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Posted by Steve 2007-04-11 07:41||
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Posted by doc 2007-04-11 12:21||
2007-04-11 12:21||
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Posted by tu3031 2007-04-11 13:21||
2007-04-11 13:21||
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