The Real Heroes

Pvt. Jessica Lynch, the woman dramatically rescued on camera in 2003 by U.S. troops, was welcomed home from Iraq as a hero. Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former NFL player killed in Afghanistan in 2004, was awarded a silver medal and posthumous promotion for his heroic attempt to rescue his fellow soldiers from the battle. In the years since, both Lynch and Tillman's family have come forward to say that the U.S. Army lied and exaggerated these events for propaganda purposes. They did so again this week before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The U.S. Army had claimed Tillman was wounded trying to rescue others, and then was rushed to a field hospital where he died 90 minutes later. The truth--only dug up when the family refused to accept vague and contradictory descriptions--is much less appealing. Tillman was actually killed by friendly fire when his unit was mistakenly ambushed. He received three shots to the head, and he died on the spot. A witness to his death, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, testified that Tillman's last, words were, "I'm friendly! I'm Pat f***ing Tillman!"

The Pentagon then tried to cover up these facts. O'Neal testified he was ordered to lie about the incident to medics who came to the scene. Tillman's body armor was burned by the Army Ranger unit that shot him in an attempt to cover up the incident. Worse still, a 2005 investigation revealed that these facts were known all the way up the chain command to Gen. Abizaid--within days of the event--but the Army went ahead, fabricated the tale of a heroic rescue, and handed out medals.

Pat Tillman's brother, testified this week in angry, shaking voice that the story about his brother's death was, "utter fiction... intended to deceive the family and more importantly the American people." Though the Army now admits "mistakes" in the reporting, Pat Tillman's father said those, "'mistakes' were deliberate, calculated, ordered (repeatedly), and disgraceful." Wrote his father, "All the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this... they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy."

Jessica Lynch also let go her mantle of heroism. She said the Pentagon, "lied and tried to make me a hero." She said, "They used me to symbolize all this stuff. It's wrong. I don't know why they filmed [my rescue] or why they say these things." She denied that she had bravely gone down fighting, saying her gun was jammed and there was nothing she could do anyhow: "I did not shoot, not a round, nothing. I went down praying to my knees. And that's the last I remember." Furthermore, she denied she had been raped or otherwise abused at the Iraqi hospital where she was treated--in fact, she reported excellent treatment.

For propaganda, the U.S. Army and the Pentagon fabricated stories of false heroism. The real heroes here are the family, friends, and fellow soldiers who have sacrificed their own reputations to expose the way the Bush Administration has tried to manipulate public opinion to support an ugly, disastrous war.