NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Twisted propaganda tales of US heroes in Iraq

By Rupert Cornwell
25 Apr, 2007 08:20 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

KEY POINTS:

WASHINGTON - Truth, it is famously said, is the first casualty of war.

And thus it has been for two of the most celebrated official heroes of America's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One was Pat Tillman, the pro-football star who gave up the NFL's riches to serve,
and ultimately die for, his country.

The other was a blonde teenage girl from West Virginia whose capture and rescue in the early days of the Iraq conflict inspired the TV drama-documentary 'Saving Jessica Lynch.' Now however the two stories have returned to haunt the Pentagon.

Both stand revealed as propaganda operations in which the truth was deliberately distorted to inspire a country and allay public doubts about the righteousness of the cause.

For the US military they have become a colossal embarrassment; for gleeful Democrats they are another stick with which to beat an already battered administration.

On Tuesday, the two cases converged in a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform, chaired by the California Congressman, Henry Waxman, an especially harsh tormentor of the Bush White House since the Democrats recaptured Congress last November.

Mr Waxman now promises to follow both affairs wherever they lead - in the Tillman case, he hints, perhaps to a cover-up involving Donald Rumfeld, the former Defence Secretary, in person.

Of the two, the Jessica Lynch saga contains the lesser danger for the administration.

She was taken prisoner by Saddam Hussein's troops, and freed from hospital within the space of barely a week in March and April 2003.

By the end of that year the initial version of her capture and release, featuring her as a latter day Annie Oakley, who went down all guns firing, and her liberators as all-American supermen, had been demolished as a feel-good PR special dreamt up by the Pentagon.

In fact she was rendered unconscious by the crash of her vehicle.

As for her release, it was a splendid opportunity to showcase military derring-do, in the shape of a dramatic (and conveniently filmed) assault against what in fact was an unresisting hospital.

From early on, Ms Lynch complained how she felt she had been used.

This week she made her feelings crystal clear again, to Mr Waxman's committee.

"The story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting is not true," she said.

"The bottom line is, the American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate lies." When NBC ran its film in November 2003, she noted later, such were the inaccuracies she could not bear to watch it through to the end.

But her case, to all intents and purposes, is closed.

Not so that of Corporal (posthumously promoted to Sergeant) Tillman.

His story was the stuff of a military recruiter's dreams.

An established star with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League, he turned down a US$3.6 million ($4.84m) contract in 2002 to enlist in the elite Army Rangers, to hunt down those responsible for the 9/11 attacks six months before.

He was handsome, personable, and just 27 years old when he was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in April 2004.

This fact was known to members of his unit, but was instantly suppressed.

It took more than a month for his family to be notified of what had happened, by which time the US Army had concocted the story of how he had died under enemy fire - and also concocted a citation for a Silver Star, the military's third highest award for valour in combat.

Since then matters have grown steadily more convoluted, despite two investigations and a report from the Pentagon's inspector general that identified nine officers who might be disciplined over the affair.

One of them, Lt. General Philip Kensinger, head of Army special operations in 2004, refused to testify to the committee on Tuesday, invoking his right to avoid self-incrimination.

But the new information that did emerge was damaging enough.

An Army Ranger who was with Sgt. Tillman when he died told how he realised at once that friendly fire was to blame, and wanted to tell Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother, who was serving in the same unit.

But he was ordered not to by his battalion commander, with an implicit warning that he "would get in trouble" if he disobeyed.

Kevin's testimony was even more bitter.

He accused the military of "deliberate and calculated lies," designed to transform his brother's tragic death into "an inspirational message" - carefully timed to divert attention from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal which erupted only days later, and mounting US casualties in Iraq.

Mr Waxman now wants to resolve the question left unanswered by the Pentagon reports, of how high the cover-up extended.

As Mary Tillman, Pat's mother noted, her son's decision to give up a lucrative NFL career attracted so much attention that Mr Rumsfeld in 2002 sent him a personal letter of thanks.

It was inconceivable the latter was not informed when he died, Ms Tillman argues.

Thus, too, the ominous words of Mr Waxman, redolent of countless Washington scandals past.

"We don't know what the Secretary of Defence knew, and we don't know what the White House knew. These are questions this committee seeks answers to."

In other words, Mr Rumsfeld's thus far quiet retirement may be rudely interrupted, by his own personal appearance before Mr Waxman and his fellow searchers for truth.

- INDEPENDENT

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Clean up after 'bomb cyclone' hits NSW

Premium
Analysis

As US warms ties with Syria, what does it expect in return?

02 Jul 08:00 PM
World

Surf, sand, and waterslides: North Korea opens beach resort

02 Jul 07:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Clean up after 'bomb cyclone' hits NSW

Clean up after 'bomb cyclone' hits NSW

Sydney Emma Olsen Ch10 Journalist

Premium
As US warms ties with Syria, what does it expect in return?

As US warms ties with Syria, what does it expect in return?

02 Jul 08:00 PM
Surf, sand, and waterslides: North Korea opens beach resort

Surf, sand, and waterslides: North Korea opens beach resort

02 Jul 07:00 PM
Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to Idaho student murders, avoids death penalty

Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to Idaho student murders, avoids death penalty

02 Jul 06:47 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP