UPDATE: Unrecommend this diary and Go To Part 2
Misleading Information from the Battlefield
Hearing on Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch
WEBCAST:
Oversight Committee Website
C-SPAN 3
The hearing will focus on the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and whether the Army deliberately destroyed evidence and ordered soldiers to keep quiet about the circumstances around Tillman's death.
The hearing will also look into the capture and rescue of Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch in Iraq in April 2003. The Pentagon falsely reported that Lynch fought back against her captors when she never fired a shot. Her subsequent "rescue" captured on night-vision cameras, further catapulted the propaganda. In an interview after her release, Lynch said that she was uncomfortable with the way the military had portrayed her capture and rescue.
The Committee seeks to understand 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.
Witnesses:
Panel I:
- Jessica Lynch, former Private, U.S. Army
- Mary Tillman, mother of Cpl. Pat Tillman
- Kevin Tillman, brother of Cpl. Pat Tillman
- Dr. Gene Bolles, former Chief of Neurosurgery, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany
Panel II:
- Hon. Thomas F. Gimble, Acting Inspector General, Department of Defense
- Brigadier General Rodney Johnson, Army Criminal Investigative Command
- Specialist Bryan O'Neal, U.S. Army
- Senior Chief Stephen White, Navy Seal
- Lt. Col. John Robinson, formerly of U.S. Army Central Command (CENTCOM)
The Pentagon Inspector General's Report can be found on NPR's website:
Review of Matters Related to the Death of Corporal Patrick Tillman, US Army (PDF)