The Bush administration's 'fraud' against soldiers and their families

"Let me say a few words about important values we must demonstrate while all of us serve in government. First, we must always maintain the highest ethical standards. We must always ask ourself not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity." -George W. Bush, Oct. 2001

By now, it's accepted wisdom that the Bush administration has great difficulty when it comes telling the truth. Deceit and obfuscation have become so institutionalized that it makes you wonder if they'd know how to tell the whole truth even if they wanted to. When there's this kind of misleadership at the top, it's no surprise when it filters down the chain of command.

Two of the most famous US casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions are back in the spotlight for the way they were allegedly manipulated by the Pentagon. Truth may be the first casualty of war but it's hardly the only one.

The the story of former Pvt. Jessica Lynch. The Pentagon told an elaborate, heroic story of Lynch's actions when she was capture. It turns out that the Pentagon's tale was a lie. Not according to liberals and troop haters, but according to Lynch herself.

"I'm still confused why they lied and tried to make me into a legend," she told a Congressional committee.

She decried how the Pentagon tried to turn her into 'Little girl Rambo.'

"American people don't need to be told elaborate tales" about US forces, she said.

Unlike the Bush administration, Lynch apparently believes that the American people don't need to be lied to or patronized and are intelligent enough to handle the truth.

But Lynch's case is the second in a clear pattern of deceit.

Take the case of Pat Tillman. The former NFL player was lauded by everyone after giving up a lucrative football career to join the Army. He was killed in Afghanistan.

The military told Tillman's family his death as the result of a heroic battle with the evil doers. When in fact, he was killed by 'friendly fire.'

Tillman's brother told a Congressional committee that the Pentagon's version of events were "deliberate and careful misrepresentations," "utter fiction" and "intentional falsehoods that meet the legal definition for fraud."

Hours later, a U.S. Army ranger who was with Pat Tillman when he died told the committee his battalion commander ordered him to conceal the cause of death from the dead soldier's family, including his brother who was in the convoy but didn't witness the incident.
"I was ordered not to tell them," said Specialist Bryan O'Neal.

'Friendly fire' deaths occur in every conflict. If you're going to wage war, it's one of those things that's just unavoidable. Why not be candid about it? Then again, why would the administration start now...

If 'support our troops' means anything, doesn't it mean they and their families deserve the truth? Why lie?

The damning answer came from Tillman's brother.

"To our family, it was a devastating loss. But to others in the government, it appears to have been an opportunity."