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Today's Stories May 12 / 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Who are the Merchants of Fear? Patrick Cockburn State of Surge May 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Blair's Depature: the View from Baghdad Kathleen Christison Playing at Peace Mike Ferner Collateral Genocide John Holt Gating Montana: A Ghastly Disneyland with High Rise Outhouses Laurie Hasbrook This Minute and Then the Next: a Plea from an Antiwar Mother Christopher Brauchli The Children of Limbo: Will the Pope Finally Set Them Free? Margaret Kimberley GOP Openly Embraces Gipper Values: Racism, Violence and Control Dave Lindorff Use It or Lose It: The Democrats and the Impeachment Clause Nicole Colson Anger Erupts at Conditions in For-Profit Indiana Prison John V. Walsh Beware the Do-Gooders in Body Armor Website of the Day Take the Terrorist Quiz!   May 10, 2007 Tariq Ali Adieu, Blair, Adieu Patrick Cockburn Killing of Teachers Turns Iraqi Sunnis Against al--Qa'ida Neve Gordon and Yigal Bronner In Israel Not All Blood is the Same: The Death of Samir Dari Marjorie Cohn Fighting Terror Selectively: Washington and Posada Carriles David Rosen The New Disappeared: Sex Offenders, Civil Confinement and the Resurrection of "Evil" Alan Farago Why the Everglades Have Dried Up: Developers and the South Florida Drought John Hellman France: From Pétain to Sarkozy Kathy Rentenbach A 100 Days of Rafael Correa BANCO The Stage is Set for Sentencing Another Innocent Black Man Richard Rhames Is Paris Burning? Website of the Day Tame the Corporation May 9, 2007 Jeff Leys Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental Spending, 2008 Patrick Cockburn An Interview with Iraq's Foreign Minister on Iran and Iraq Glen Ford No Black Plan for America's Cities Paula Rothenberg Feminism Then and Now Kathryn Weber A Conversation with Norman Finkelstein John Chuckman The Likely Historical Significance of the War in Iraq Jordan Flaherty Looking for Justice in Jena, Louisiana Dave Lindorff Pelosi's Toothless Threat to Sue Bush Stephen Lendman Criminalizing Speech: the War on Free Expression in a Post-9/11 World Website of the Day "Fifth and Market": a Short Film About the Iraq War     May 8, 2007 Dave Lindorff The Great Oil Robbery Patrick Cockburn The Horrific Stoning Death of a Yazidi Girl Sparks Waves of Revenge Killings Corporate Crime Reporter Snuff Politics: Democrats Escalate Attack on Single Payer Ralph Nader The People's Crusade of Mike Gravel Malini Johar Schueller Decoding Harlan Ullman: Shock and Awe as Sexual Fantasy Juan Santos The Hate Equation: Targeting Migrant Children in LA Dave Zirin Jason Whitlock, the Clarence Thomas of Sportswriters? Joshua Frank The Price of Fire in Latin America Evelyn Pringle Serotonin Syndrome Eamonn McCann Irish Peace Dividend for Discredited Premiers Website of the Day The Pagan Science Monitor     May 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Great Wall of Baghdad Rises Monica Benderman Land of Opportunity Greg Moses Hutto Prison Rebuffs UN Rapporteur Rannie Amiri The Sham at Sheikh: Iraq Regional Conference a Flop Fitrakis / Wasserman Media Silence on Kent State Revelations Fred Wilhelms Another Royalty Forfeiture From SoundExchange: And This Time It's Secret! Ramzy Baroud The Hourglass of Blood: Darfur Revisited Bruce K. Gagnon The Democrats Don't Own the Antiwar Movement T. W. Croft Home Movies from a Weekend in Paris--And Related Dreamscapes Sonja Karkar Prizes for Supporting Israel? Website of the Day Posada Carriles: the Declassified Record May 5 / 6, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Trying to Catch Up with the Voters William Blum How America Has Changed Iraq Uri Avnery Exercise in Escapism Franklin Lamb Harvard's Twisted Report on Israel's Invasion of Lebanon Fred Gardner Elective Surgeries Kill Lawrence R. Velvel The American Moral Meltdown Accelerates Missy Beattie Lying and Dying: The Moral Sensibility of Military Recruiters Robert Fantina Bush's Veto: Hypocritical Words and Actions Carla Blank American Massacres and the Media Linn Washington, Jr. The Long Ordeal of Harold Wilson Stephen F. Jackson Taking It to Drummond: Paramilitaries and Mining Companies in Colombia P. Sainath The Jailing of Indian Farmers Anthony Papa Time to End New York's War on Itself James T. Phillips Blather Cancer John Ross Last Days of the Willie Loman of the EZLN Stephen Lendman Chavez's Oil Policy Sparks Panic at Wall Street Journal Ben Terrall Iggy Pop at 60 CounterPunch Newswire Advice from a Geezer Assassin Poets' Basement Valentine, Engel and Davies Website of the Weekend Mountain Justice Summer   May 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn How the Surge is Failing Col. Dan Smith From Watergate to Gonzogate Norman Solomon FOX on Wall Street Azmi Bishara Why is Israel After Me? Ron Jacobs Sitting in on Senator Kohl and the War Dave Lindorff Clinton and Byrd are Calling for Revocation of the Wrong AUMF Kevin Zeese The Democrats Cave to Bush Bob Fitrakis Why Four Died in Ohio: Kent State, Gov. Rhodes and the FBI Janet Kauffman "Stop the Mudness!" Bare Earth is Scorched Earth Website of the Day Let Us Gather in Missouri!   May 3, 2007 Jeff Halper The Livni-Rice Plan for the Middle East: a Just Peace or Apartheid? Christopher Brauchli Bush's Best and Brightest: From Dr. Keroack to Bernard Kerik Dave Zirin Talking Sports from Death Row: an Interview with Kevin Cooper Corporate Crime Reporter Big Pharma Gets Its Hooks into Seton Hall Law School Robert Fisk Olmert Comes Undone Mike Ferner Bush Veto, Right for the Wrong Reasons? Mike Whitney A Stock Market Post-Mortem Pham Binh The Democrats and War Funding Dave Lindorff Kucinich's Impeachment Train: Look Who Just Stepped Aboard Michael A. Johnson Tenet on 60 Minutes Website of the Day Olivia Wilde: the Interview   May 2, 2007 Saul Landau Would Jesus Wear a Rolex on His TV Show? Dr. Susan Block Hookergate II: Madame Julia's Big Black Book of Cheesy Republican Sex Acts Carla Blank Historical Amnesia: Worst U.S. Massacre? Margaret Kimberly The Candor of Mike Gravel: "These People Frighten Me" Kevin Zeese Durbin Gives Edwards More to Apologize For Carlos Villareal How "Law and Order" Covers for Bigotry in the Immigration Debate Michael Dickinson Trouble in Turkey: Criminalizing Political Art Tim Shorrock A Raw Deal Between Washington and Seoul: Corporate Interventionism as Trade Policy Alevtina Rea The Myth-Makers of Estonia William S. Lind General Incompetence: Col. Yingling and the Military Brass Website of the Day Good News: Rost's "ZubeGate Exposé Prompts Congressional Inquiry May 1, 2007 Andrew Cockburn How Rumsfeld Micromanaged Torture Fred Gardner Affirmative Abstinence: Adios, Randall Tobias, the Man Who Turned His Wife's Suicide into a Sales Pitch for Prozac Chase Madar Are Working Class Jobs Bad for Your Health? Ralph Nader Cheney and the BYU 25: Faith, Accountability and Protest in Utah John V. Walsh Edgy Dems Snarl at Their Antiwar Base Joshua Frank Obama, Incorporated Leslie Radford The Migrant Trap and the Migrant's Way Out Shaun Harkin An Interview with Nativo López on Immigration Bills and Protests Dave Lindorff Murtha Talks Impeachment Peter Rost, MD Inspector General Requests Meeting with Pfizer Whistleblower Peter Linebaugh May Day and Magna Carta Website of the Day Impeachment? Why Bother?   April 30, 2007 Frank Menetrez Dershowitz v. Finkelstein: Who's Right and Who's Wrong? Paul Craig Roberts Incompetence at the Top: Tenet and His Masters Ray McGovern Tenet's Self-Serving Apologia Manuel Garcia, Jr. Fire Collapses Oakland Freeway as Steel Supports Fail Diana Johnstone The Three Rs of "Sarko the American" Sherwood Ross A So-Called "Liberal" Answers His Death Threats Peter Rost, MD Did Pfizer Illegally Market Its New HIV/AIDS Drug? Robert Jensen Anti-Capitalism in Five Minutes Kevin Zeese While Congress Voted for War, the Peace Movement Protested Inside the Senate Jane Stillwater Dalai Lama and Costco Website of the Day Francis Boyle: Impeaching Bush   April 28 / 29, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Is Global Warming a Sin? Jeffrey St. Clair Versailles on the Potomac Fred Gardner Fuel for a Killer: What Drugs Had Cho Taken? David Orchard and Michael Mandel Afghanistan and Iraq are the Same War Alan Maass The War on Hip Hop: an Interview with Dave Marsh Joe Bageant Why Are Leftists So Damn Afraid of God? Robert Fantina The Rhetoric of Dick Cheney: Lying as Art Form Hanan Ashrawi Palestine and Peace: the Looming Challenges Ron Jacobs Return of the Guitar Army Nicole Colson The Surpeme Court Targets Abortion Rights Ben Terrall Tracking Torture Missy Beattie Quit Your Day Job, George Harvey Wasserman The Lesson of Chernobyl Cindy Beringer The Horrors of Hutto: Inside Texas' For-Profit Immigrant Prison Mike Roselle The Dog Philosophy: What Kant Can't Tell Us About Why We Love Wilderness RAWA Freeing Afghanistan James McEnteer Where the Movie Villains are American: Screening Films in Bolivia Poets' Basement For Stew Albert Website of the Weekend Rudy and Donald: the Drag Smooch April 27, 2007 Eva Liddell How Can Women Defend Themselves Against Stalkers? Phyllis Bennis and Robert Jensen Moving Beyond Anti-War Politics Mike Whitney Where's the Beef?: Padilla and the Zucchini Prosecution Michael F. Brown Biden and Pelosi: Failing to Hold Israel Accountable for War Crimes in Lebanon Jordan Flaherty Forgotten Mississippi Margaret Kimberly John McCain, Cold-Blooded Senator Christopher Brauchli The Dangers of Unstable People Jacob Mundy Stalemate in the Western Sahara? Website of the Day Yee Speaks April 26, 2007 Andrew Cockburn Wolfowitz's War Franklin Lamb Giuliani Plays the Islamic Terror Card Patrick Cockburn Al-Qa'ida Group Behind US Deaths in Iraq Roger Morris Dispatches From the Front Henry Siegman The Three Nos of Jerusalem Alevtina Rea A Sister City Debate in Rachel Corrie's Hometown Paris Are You a Hip Hop Apologist? Nikolas Kozloff White Racism and the Aymara in Bolivia Alan Farago Dow 13,000 Disconnect Matthew S. Miller The Limits to Lakoff Website of the Day PBS: Blaming Blacks Again April 25, 2007 Sharon Smith The Rights of Children in America David Price The Long Lost War Diana Johnstone Who Wants Sarko? New or Old France? Brendan Cooney Cho and Cheney: Killer Looks Sonja Karkar Israeli Democracy, For Jews Only? Brian Concannon Wolfowitz and Haiti Lee Gaillard Baptism Under Fire: Can the Osprey Fly? Leah Fishbein Women Under Siege Dave Lindorff The First Shoe Drops Neal Galloway US Agricultural Policy is Destructive at Home and Abroad Website of the Day Anti-War Student Movements: a Short History   April 24, 2007 Ishmael Reed How Imus' Media Collaborators Almost Rescued Their Chief Lila Rajiva Tragedy and Irony After Virginia Tech Paul Craig Roberts The War Goes Ever On Patrick Cockburn Sunnis Protest Baghdad's "Prison Wall" Ralph Nader The Corporate Debasement of Earth Day Mike Whitney Housing Bubble Boondoggle Website of the Day "Refugees"   April 23, 2007 Saul Landau The Courage to Withdraw Patrick Cockburn Time of the Death Squads: Iraq as Revenge Tragedy Robert Fantina Changing Sentiments Sam Husseini The Gonzales Distraction Corporate Crime Reporter Bought-and-Paid-For Journalism at the Philly Inquirer Elizabeth Lalasz Sick and Getting Sicker Harvey Wasserman Earth Day, Incorporated Dave Lindorff Huge Win for Impeachment in Vermont: Are You Listening Sen. Leahy? Gary Leupp Maoist Homophobia in Nepal? Stephen Lendman A Short History of the Christian Right Website of the Day No to OLF April 21 / 22, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Bring Back the Posse Fred Gardner Prozac Madness Kristoffer Larsson The Islamic Threat to Europe: By the Numbers Barbara Rose Johnston Nuclear War and Its Consequences Manuel Garcia, Jr. The Heart of Whiteness: Racism, Wealth and IQ John Scagliotti Unlocking Closets, Locking Free Speech Marjorie Cohn Gonzo Justice: Counting on Alberto Patrick Cockburn Sadr Raises the Stakes Diana Johnstone The Absent Middle East Ron Jacobs Explaining the Spectre Evelyn Pringle How Iraq Was Looted BANCO Travesties of Justice in a Black City in Michigan: the Persecution of Rev. Pinkney Paul Richards Thinking Big in the Northern Rockies Dan Bacher Zapatistas in the Colorado River Delta Ben Terrall Showdown at Chevron: SF Protest Against New Iraq Oil Law Sherwood Ross How the Taliban Defeated the Pakistani Army in Waziristan Remi Kanazi Bill Maher's "Towel-Headed Hos" Aseem Shrivastava Behind the Curtain of SEZs Poets' Basement Valentine, Reed, Harley and Engel Website of the Day Reading Sappho in New Orleans   April 20, 2007 Doug Peacock Beginning of the End for the Yellowstone Grizzly? Diane Farsetta Onward, Free Market Soldiers!: Privatizing Public Diplomacy Tom Clifford The Surge in Iraqi Civilian Deaths: the Bloodiest 12 Months of the War Amira Hass The Holocaust as Political Asset Nicole Colson Desperation in Gitmo's Camp 6 Sonja Karkar Double Jeopardy Entraps Palestinians Heather Gray The Supreme Court Looks a Lot Like the Taliban Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban Syrian Expeditions Agustin Velloso Spain and Iraq, Four Years On Matthew Koehler Distorting the News in a Timber Company Town Website of the Day Gonzo's Monica   April 19, 2007 Emad Mekay / Jim Lobe Scoring at the World Bank: Wolfowitz's Quid Pro Quo Patrick Cockburn A Day of Bombs and Blood in Baghdad Larry C. Johnson The Hobbesian Hell of Iraq: How Many Dead Equal a Failed Government? Norman Solomon Bowing Down to Our Own Violence Saul Williams Notes from a Hip Hop Head: an Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey Sunsara Taylor From Iraq to the Supreme Court: a New Dark Ages for Women Harvey Wasserman How Green is Tom Friedman? Christopher Brauchli Apologies, Incorporated Anthony Papa Nightmare Behind Bars: John Valverde's Fight for Freedom Dave Lindorff Betraying Thomas Jefferson Website of the Day The Best Antiwar Song of the Iraq War? April 18, 2007 Lila Rajiva More Gun Laws or Fewer Idiots? How the Va Tech Administration Failed Its Campus Landau / Hassen Tancredo as 17th Century Indian Chief? Charles Fisher / Randy Fisher Don Imus's Firing and the Hip-Hop Culture Diane Christian Facing Death Politically Kevin Prosen Meeting the Resistance in Iraq China Hand Gold Digging: The U.S. Treasury Department's Economic Campaign Against North Korea Peter Rost, MD The Strange Profits from a Re-Branded Cancer Drug Justin Akers Chacón What's Inside the STRIVE Bill Jerry Kroth Virginia Tech and Cho Seung Hui: Love and Unhappiness in an Alien Culture Sherwood Ross Massacre at Va Tech: a Brief Glimpse into Daily Life in Iraq Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Bonfire of the Hannities Alice Cherbonnier Why South Dakota's "Informed Consent" Law Doesn't Go Far Enough Website of the Year? "I Hope I Die Before I Get Old"   April 17, 2007 Jean Bricmont / Diana Johnstone The Elections in France: a Coming Political Tsunami Paul Craig Roberts Bloodbath in Blacksburg Frida Berrigan Militarizing the Border Alison Weir The Message of PBS's "Crossroads" Series: Some Muslims Aren't Bad John Walsh Why is the Peace Movement Silent About AIPAC? Jason Hribal Resistance is Futile: Emily the Cow and Tyke the Elephant Evelyn Pringle The Iraq Money Trail Ben Terrall Cuban Exiles Get Hero's Welcome; Haitian Refugees Get Shafted Stan Cox 1040s and Death Certificates Soren Ambrose Confidence Crisis at the IMF Website of the Day Go Ahead and Yell: "FIRE!"   April 16, 2007 John F. Sugg Hate and Hypocrisy in the Cox Empire Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Escalating Military Spending: Income Redistribution in Disguise Carl G. Estabrook The Politics of the Useful Threat: It Didn't Start with the Neo-Cons Paul Craig Roberts The Party of Brownshirts Uri Avnery Blood on Our Hands Ralph Nader Where Are the Cries of Outrage Over Military Rapes? Eamon McCann Shame of the Empire: Simon, Sir Bono and Tinkerbelle Lee Sustar Decoding the Democrats Mike Whitney Trouble in Squanderville: Bubble People and the Faith-Based Market Don Fitz Solar Capitalism? Stephen Lendman Ecuador Votes for Revolutionary Change Website of the Day Black Mesa Water Coalition   April 14 / 15, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Ho Industry Whores Jorge Mariscal Gen. Petraeus's Field Manual: a Traveler's Guide to Big Muddy Jeffrey St. Clair The Beautiful and the Dammed: How the West Got Flooded Dave Marsh The Imus Affair, Hip Hop and Politics Dr. Trudy Bond Shrinks, Lies and Torture: How Psychologists Became the Pentagon's Bitches Joe Bageant A Feral Dog Howls in Harvard Yard Fidel Castro The Terrorist Walks Alfredo Molano "More Than Complicated" Alan Farago When Miami Crashes Michael Neumann Anglophone Fantasies and French Realities Fred Gardner Barbara McNair's Unsung Heroism: Bringing Down the Owner of EST Ron Jacobs A Conversation with Three Iraq Veterans Against the War Gail Dines Racy Sex, Sexy Racism Linda Ford Imus and Lady Hoopsters: a Long History of Bias Against Women Athletes Missy Beattie What Would Imus Do?: Iraq, Ho, Ho, Ho Dan La Botz Farm Labor Organizer Murdered in Mexico Giuliana Sgrena The Lies of Mario Lozano Laura Carlsen A Moratorium on Free Trade Agreements Abu Spinoza Wolfowitz's Real Crimes Elizabeth Schulte Grinding It Out with Quentin Tarantino Poets' Basement Davies, Harley, Engel and Landau Website of the Weekend Vonnegut's Final Interview   April 13, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The Shattering of Mosul Stephen Soldz Aid and Comfort for Torturers: Psychology and Coercive Interrogations in Historical Perspective George Ciccarriello-Maher The Failed Chávez Coup: Five Years On Laith al-Saud Kirkuk, Oil and the Kurds Dave Zirin Memo to Imus John Ross Drawing a Line in the Heartland Ramzy Baroud America as Proxy Harvey Wasserman The Novelist Who Hated War: Peace Be With You, Mr. Vonnegut Lopez, Olivo and Garcia Columbia University's Two-Tiered Punishments Dols, Fukumori, Judd and Tillett-Saks Columbia: On the Wrong Side of Justice Website of the Day Democrats: an Iraq Scorecard   April 12, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski We May be Rid of Imus, But We're Still Stuck with the Culture Paul Craig Roberts Big Profits from Big Brother Marjorie Cohn U.S. Attorneys and Voting Rights Evelyn Pringle Bush Family War Profiteering: Will Congress Finally Cut Them Off? Ron Jacobs God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut Norman Solomon The Awful Truth About Hillary, Barack and John Joe DeRaymond The Release of Dennis Counterman: The Justice Game, the Alford Plea and Death Row Nicola Nasser Squeezing Palestinians into an Impossible Mission Nikolas Kozloff Chile, a Country Geographically Located in South America "By Accident" William S. Lind Horatio Hornblower's Worst Nightmare Siegfried L. Sassoon A Statement Against the Continuation of the War Website of the Day Where You Want This Killin' Done?   April 11, 2007 R. T. Naylor Quebec's Lessons for the US: How "Wars on Terror" Should be Fought Vijay Prashad The Generation of IEDs and iPods Patrick Cockburn The Myth of Tal Afar Winslow T. Wheeler When Will the War Money Really Run Out? Jack Balkwill Prison for a Peacemaker: A Vietnam Vet Interviews Kathy Kelly Alan Farago Florida's Fundamentally Weak Environmental Movement Russell D. Hoffman The Carbon Offset Tax is Just Another Nuke Bailout Peter Rost, MD The Fine Print on Drug Industry Kickbacks Mike Whitney Doomsday for the Greenback? Dave Lindorff Torture and Selective Outrage Susie Day Peter Pace Porks a Peck of Pinko Perverts Website of the Day Save the Internet!     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition May 12 / 13, 2007 Untold Stories from the Pat Tillman / Jessica Lynch Hearings War vs. Democracy By DIANE FARSETTA What does it mean to be a nation at war? Is it possible to exercise democratic control over a wartime government that dismisses honest criticism as unpatriotic? What should citizens do when members of their military not only commit crimes -- as happens during every war -- but also rely on propaganda to hide mistakes and to embellish or even create victories, as happened in the cases of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and Private Jessica Lynch? Those are big questions, but a few things are clear. One is that the secrecy, deception and constraints sought by wartime administrations are anathema to the transparency, accountability and freedom necessary to democracy. As James Madison warned, "Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other." Another truism is that citizens retain the right to receive information and provide guidance to their government during wartime. The last is that, while security concerns may legitimately restrict what information can be shared when, maintaining civilian oversight of war operations helps ensure that human rights standards are upheld. Perhaps the most important effort to provide oversight of ongoing U.S. wars was the April 24 Congressional hearing on battlefield misinformation. The hearing focused on the wounding, capture and rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq in March 2003, and on the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan in April 2004. For more than four hours, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard a remarkable amount of information. There were often emotional first-hand accounts; analyses by a medical doctor, dedicated family members and military inspectors; and many questions from members of Congress. Ideally, news media would have covered the hearing in depth and hosted wide-ranging discussions and debates of the issues raised. Instead, the overwhelming majority of news outlets only showed, quoted or described the opening remarks of the hearing's first witness panel, and then moved on to their next story. What went unreported were shocking truths about the Lynch and Tillman incidents and the many remaining questions, as well as new insights into military misinformation. The exchanges highlighted below, drawn from testimony given throughout the hearing, fill in these blanks. (For an analysis that places the hearing in the context of news coverage at the time of the incidents, see Robin Andersen's article, "'Mission Accomplished,' Four Years Later.") Other Soldiers, Other Questions Perhaps the most under-reported aspect of the hearing was the list of U.S. soldiers whose injuries or deaths remain mired in secrecy. Pat Tillman's brother and fellow Army Ranger Kevin Tillman advocated strongly for other families still waiting for answers. Kevin told the stories of the following soldiers, all of whom were killed in Iraq: * First Lieutenant Ken Ballard: "His mom, Karen Meredith, was told that Ken was killed by a sniper on a rooftop," recounted Kevin. "Fifteen months later, she found out that he was killed by an unmanned gun from his own vehicle." * Private Jesse Buryj: "His family was told he was killed in a vehicle accident. A year later, they received the autopsy report, and they found that he was shot in the back. The Army was forced to concede that he was accidentally shot by a Polish soldier. Just recently, out of nowhere, a Lieutenant showed up at their family's house and told them that an officer in his own unit had shot him." * Staff Sergeant Brian Hellerman: His wife, Dawn Hellerman, called Kevin Tillman late one night. "She was tired of receiving new official reasons why her husband had died. She was desperate for help. ... The system had failed her." * Sergeant Patrick McCafferty: "The family was told, it was -- quote -- 'an ambush by insurgents.' Two years later, they found out that those -- quote -- 'insurgents' happened to be the same Iraqi troops that he was training. Before his death, he told his chain of command that these same troops that he was training were trying to kill him and his team. He was told to keep his mouth shut." Members of Congress named other soldiers whose families have received misleading information: * Sergeant Eddie Ryan, who was wounded in Iraq: "He sustained two gunshot wounds to the head and, thankfully, is still alive," said House Oversight Committee Chair Henry Waxman. "He didn't find out the truth about his injuries until five months later, even though his fellow Marines knew immediately that his injuries were due to friendly fire." * First Lieutenant Sarah K. Small, who died during a military training exercise in Egypt. * Private First Class LaVena Johnson, who died in Iraq from what the Army says was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a claim contradicted by multiple pieces of evidence. "For almost two years, Dr. and Mrs. Johnson have been trying to get at the truth about what happened to their daughter," said Rep. William Clay. Later in the hearing, Clay listed the key information requested from the Army, on behalf of the Johnsons: "A CD containing the original photos from the criminal investigation into Private Johnson's death and the original autopsy photos, missing medical records from Private Johnson's file, all psychological evaluations that may have been made of Private Johnson, and the identity of the lead investigator into her death." Private Johnson's family has filed a Freedom of Information Act request, as have the Small and Ballard families. But it's unclear whether these requests -- and the memory of their loved ones -- will be honored by the Pentagon. Creating the Narrative Most of the Congressional hearing focused on Private Jessica Lynch and Corporal Pat Tillman. In addition to uncovering new information and raising unanswered questions, the Lynch and Tillman testimony showed how well -- and, at times, how irresponsibly -- the U.S. military manages the media. Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Lynch became renowned as a plucky young soldier who bravely resisted an enemy ambush, but was seriously wounded and captured. After U.S. soldiers rescued her in a nighttime raid, Lynch's story became an allegory for the courageousness and righteousness of U.S. troops in Iraq. Except that it didn't quite happen like that. British reporters quickly debunked Lynch's rescue as a staged media event, and, once she was well enough to realize and respond to the narrative, Lynch herself disavowed the rest. During the hearing, Rep. Waxman added another wrinkle -- evidence that the "rescue" operation had been delayed, for publicity purposes: Rep. Henry Waxman: The military had an opportunity to rescue you, when you were captive for ten days. But there was a whole day, before they captured you, when they were preparing not just to rescue you, but to videotape the rescue. Were you aware of that, or aware of it now? Private Jessica Lynch: Not at the time, I wasn't aware that they were videotaping me, no. But after the fact, yeah I knew about it and now, you know, I kind of understand why they did it. Waxman: Well, maybe you understand it. ... I come from Hollywood. I expect show business in Hollywood, not from the military and not to support a story that was a fabrication. ... Our staff interviewed Jim Wilkinson, the director of strategic communications at CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command). He informed us of the plans of your rescue operation. He informed the press operation a full day before it happened. Waxman later questioned Lt. Col. John Robinson, who was a CENTCOM spokesperson during the Lynch incident: Rep. Henry Waxman: Lt. Col. Robinson, you were interviewed about this rescue video by the Washington Post. ... Your statement, according to the Post, was -- quote -- 'We let them know, if possible we wanted to get it. We'd like to have' the video. 'We were hoping we would have good visuals. We knew it would be the hottest thing of the day. There was not an intent to talk it down or embellish it because we didn't need to. It was an awesome story.' You say you let them know that you wanted to tape the rescue. Who is the 'them' you were referring to -- the rescue team, the operations folks? ... Do you recall the quote? Lt. Col. John Robinson: No, sir, I don't remember speaking to them about Jessica Lynch, but I can tell you where the visuals would have come from. The visuals would have come from an officer who was assigned to the SOP [Special Operations] unit, who had an additional duty of providing visuals back to the press center. These were not the only visuals that we received from this unit. And we got visuals all day, every day, throughout that particular operation. And so, these visuals that we received would have been visuals that we would have requested as soon as we found out that there was a potential rescue. Much like the dramatic rescue footage was essential to the Lynch story, the televised memorial service and posthumous award given Corporal Pat Tillman cemented and promoted the false narrative around his death. That football hero turned soldier Pat Tillman had been killed by his fellow troops in Afghanistan was known immediately, and rapidly reported up the chain of command. However, for more than a month, Tillman's family and the U.S. public were told that Pat had been killed by the enemy, while bravely protecting other U.S. soldiers. During the House hearing, Rep. Bruce Braley asked Specialist Bryan O'Neal and the Acting Inspector General of the Defense Department, Thomas Gimble, about the statements used in Tillman's Silver Star Award: Rep. Bruce Braley: In addition to being an eyewitness to Corporal Tillman's death and reporting this incident up the chain of command, you were also involved in writing a statement that was used to award Corporal Tillman the Silver Star. Do you remember that? Specialist Bryan O'Neal: Yes, sir. Braley: ... Was this a situation where they gave you a sheet of paper and told you to write down, in your own words, your best recollection of the events that had happened, or did someone prepare a statement for you to review and sign? O'Neal: What happened, sir, was I got sat behind a computer and I was told to type up my recollection of what happened. And as soon as I was done typing, I was relieved to go back to my platoon, sir. And that was the last I heard of it. Braley: So when you finished typing your statement, it was in a digital format that had not been printed out. Is that correct? O'Neal: Roger that, sir. Braley: ... Did you ever sign, in your handwriting, a statement that you had reviewed and verified the authenticity of? O'Neal: Negative, sir. Braley: Now I want to ask you about the statement that was ultimately used in the Silver Star commendation. ... This version of the statement also says you -- quote -- 'engaged the enemy very successfully' -- end quote. That the enemy moved most of their attention to your position which -- quote -- 'drew a lot of fire from them.' Did you write these sentences, claiming that you were engaged with the enemy? O'Neal: No, sir. Braley: Do you know who made the changes to your statement, to make it appear as if you were receiving fire from the enemy, rather than from your own platoon? O'Neal: No, sir. Braley: Mr. Gimble, the Inspector General's office investigated these alterations to the witnesses' statements and flagged these differences as well. But in the course of your investigation, did you ever discover who specifically changed this language and why that language was changed? Hon. Thomas Gimble: ... The citations that we got were part of the package that we got of the General Jones investigation [into Tillman's death]. And they were not signed, it just had stamped as 'original, signed.' And my investigators went back to Specialist O'Neal and the sergeant and said, 'Did you write these?' And they said no, that they did not. ... We were unable to determine who in the chain of command actually did the alterations. Senior Chief Petty Officer Stephen White was a friend of Pat Tillman's and the only active-duty military member to speak at the televised memorial service. During the hearing, White explained that he based his memorial service speech on the altered Silver Star documents: Rep. William Clay: You were not with Corporal Tillman in Afghanistan when he was killed. Is that correct? Senior Chief Petty Officer Stephen White: That's correct, sir. Clay: Then how did you become aware of the details surrounding his death? White: The initial, sporadic stuff that I got was from Kevin [Tillman, Pat's brother] himself. The morning of the memorial, I don't recall exactly how I got word but, I knew that they wanted me to ... let the family know, that he was going to be presented with the Silver Star. In order to do that in the presentation, I wanted to, basically, to surmise what had happened on the target site. I called an enlisted person whose name I cannot recall. I believe he was with the 75th Ranger Battalion. The morning of, he read the citation to me, over the phone. I summarized in my own words, asked him if that was an accurate summarization. He said it was, and that's what I went with in my speech. Hiding the Truth For false narratives to gain currency, the truth must be suppressed. In Private Jessica Lynch's case, her injuries kept her from correcting the public record for some time. But her doctor was another matter. Dr. Gene Bolles, a neurosurgeon and military contractor at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, was one of the first people to examine Lynch following her "rescue." During the Congressional hearing, he said it was clear that Lynch had no bullet wounds -- contrary to already widely-reported stories of her combat heroism -- and that her wounds were consistent with a serious vehicle accident. Then Rep. John Yarmuth asked Bolles whether he had been restricted in his public remarks at the time: Rep. John Yarmuth: Did you have to sign any kind of nondisclosure agreement? Dr. Gene Bolles: Yes, I did. Yarmuth: ... Were you asked to sign this specifically for the Lynch case? Bolles: ... Before she left, the day before or the day of, I was asked to sign something to say that this would not be discussed, also. Yarmuth: And you had never been asked to sign anything like that, involving any other patient of yours? Bolles: No, sir. Yarmuth: ... Did you think it was peculiar, that you were asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement for one patient? Bolles: At the time, no. I'm not sure I do now. ... Yarmuth: Looking back at it now, are you suspicious? ... What do you think was behind their action? Bolles: I really don't think I have an opinion on that, sir. It may have been standard procedure for a highly visible situation such as Private Lynch was. I don't know. With regard to Corporal Pat Tillman's death, eyewitness accounts and reports quickly relayed up the chain of command blatantly contradicted the U.S. military's preferred narrative. During the House hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings described what is known about these high-level communications: Rep. Elijah Cummings: We have an email that was written on April 28, 2004, six days after Pat Tillman's death. ... It describes how the White House was asking for information about Corporal Tillman, for the President to use in a speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. ... The next day, April 29, 2004, an urgent communication was sent to the highest levels of the Army command structure, alerting them that friendly fire was the suspected cause of death. This communication is called a Personal Four, that is P-4, memo. ... It [the P-4 memo] goes on to express concern that the President or Defense Secretary might suffer -- quote -- 'public embarrassment, if the circumstances of Corporal Tillman's death become public' -- end of quote. ... When the President spoke at the Correspondents' Dinner, he was careful in his wording. He praised Pat Tillman's courage, but carefully avoided describing how he was killed. During the hearing, several members of Congress and witnesses asked: Which military and government officials were rapidly informed that Tillman had been killed by "friendly fire," but kept that truth from his family and from the public for more than a month? Reps. Cummings and Waxman wondered if President Bush's cautious words at the White House Correspondents' Dinner indicate that he, or someone in his office, knew. Based on then-CENTCOM chief John Abizaid's trip to Afghanistan shortly after Tillman's death, the number of high-ranking military officers who definitely knew, and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's previous correspondence with Tillman, Pat's mother Mary Tillman said she believes that Rumsfeld knew the real cause of Pat's death. The hearing also brought to light a chilling account of the "friendly fire" incident, which Mary Tillman paraphrased from an investigation by Brigadier General Gary Jones: Mary Tillman: At this particular moment, they [the soldiers who shot and killed Pat] got excited. They were not afraid. When they were asked about this particular engagement, not once did they say they were afraid. Not once did they say they were being fired upon. They said they were excited. Or one said, I wanted to be in a firefight. General Jones asked, 'Did you PID [positively identify] your target?' 'No, I wanted to be in a firefight.' When they asked, 'Did you see waving hands?' 'Yes, we saw waving hands.' 'What did it look like,' General Jones asked. 'It looked like they were trying to say, hey, it's us.' And yet, they fired at them. Strangely, the Army's criminal investigation found that the soldiers who killed Tillman had not broken the rules of engagement. Civilians Are People, Too Following the hearing, Oversight Committee Chair Waxman sent letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and White House Counsel Fred Fielding, asking for documents clarifying "how and when" high-ranking Defense Department and White House officials "learned of the circumstances surrounding Corporal Tillman's death." Of course, battlefield misinformation doesn't just surround U.S. soldiers. Many more Afghan and Iraqi civilians have died under questionable circumstances. The New York Times recently reported new information about U.S. military assaults on civilians in Haditha, Iraq and in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The Haditha revelations eerily echo the circumstances surrounding Pat Tillman's death. Immediately following the November 2005 U.S. assault, the Iraqi civilian deaths were reported up the chain of command. However, that information was suppressed, because the Haditha killings represented, in the words of the Times report, "a potential public relations problem that could fuel insurgent propaganda against the American military." U.S. soldiers also attempted to deny the truth about the March 2007 Jalalabad killings, destroying photos and video that journalists had taken at the scene. A military official explained that "untrained people" might "capture visual details that are not as they originally were." Two months later, the U.S. military apologized and paid $2,000 to the surviving family members of the 19 civilians killed. What happened in Jalalabad and Haditha, to Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch and LaVena Johnson, and to many other soldiers and civilians caught up in U.S. wars isn't due to malicious intent. Tragedies and lies happen whenever human beings are put into a war zone. This doesn't excuse them. It does mean that U.S. citizens should accept a share of the responsibility, and insist upon truth and accountability, lest our democracy become wartime "collateral damage." Diane Farsetta is a Senior Researcher, Center for Media & Democracy, publisher of PR Watch. She can be reached at: diane@prwatch.org

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