Pat Tillman's Parents unhappy with Army...

[DeltAlum]

Excerpt from the Washington Post:

Tillman's Family Critical of Army Investigation

WASHINGTON (May 23) - The family of former professional football player Pat Tillman says the Army disrespected his memory by lying in its investigation of his death in Afghanistan last year.

In interviews with The Washington Post, the Army Ranger's mother and father said they believe the military and the government created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a patriotic response across the country.

''Pat had high ideals about the country; that's why he did what he did,'' Mary Tillman told the Post. ''The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting.''


DeltAlum comment:

I feel compelled to comment because of the many threads taking the "media" to task for negativity, mistakes, cynicism (or lack of) and other alleged wrongdoing.

The fact is that the government (any government) uses the media whenever it can get away with it. When you look at how the military controls coverage -- going way back to the now infamous "five o'clock follies" in Vietnam, it's no wonder that journalists are skeptical.

Incidents like the Rather/Bush and more recent Newsweek debacles are unexcusable, but much of the critism leveled against journalism is as well.

In fact, it's often not much more than public relations and damage control.