The First Casualty of War is Truth
Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2007
by Joseph Collins
Publisher / Columnist for Double Impact magazine
In the same month the White House claims to have lost millions of emails and the U.S. Attorney General is walking a tight rope for not leveling with the American people and Congress, the Army is now under fire for inflating and apparently lying about the tragedies of Ranger Pat Tillman and former POW Jessica Lynch. Pat Tillman' brother, a fellow Army Ranger and Jessica Lynch herself have testified on Capitol Hill that the Army blatantly changed official reports in order to manage a public relations nightmare and to create heroes worthy of Hollywood movies. However, in wartime situations like these, is the truth always the right answer?
3. Information shall not be classified or otherwise withheld to protect the Government from criticism or embarrassment.While the Principles of Public Information appear to be clear and straightforward, the responsibilities of the Public Affairs officer are not nearly as easy to decipher. One of the things she or he must do is work closely with the IO staff in order to ensure that their activities are "integrated, coordinated and deconflicted with IO". What does that mean? How far does the military go in order to balance the truth with embarrassing news from the battlefield? History shows that one concept the American public finds hard to accept is the truth should not be an automatic response in time of war. National security concerns should always be given priority when they come in conflict with releasing highly damaging information. To illustrate the point, here is another quote from the Joint Chiefs that deserves serious consideration:
"Battles and campaigns can be lost in the cognitive dimension. Factors such as leadership, morale, unit cohesion, emotion, state of mind, level of training, experience, situational awareness, as well as public opinion, perceptions, media, public information and rumors influence this dimension."
This is where the "battle for the hearts and minds" comes in. Information that severely damages the morale of troops in the field, the public back home or the public in an enemy nation must be carefully scrutinized before being released. While some officials haphazardly stretch the truth at nearly every opportunity, the control and management of information coming from our nation's battlefield should be and will continue to be a work in progress. Military leaders and politicians will always be faced with decisions about whether to release the unvarnished truth or to paint a picture that conforms to stated policy and goals for victory. Sometimes, releasing the unvarnished, embarrassing truth is the right decision. At other times, the consequences of truth are too great.
In the case of Pat Tillman, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Army wanted to avoid reporting to the American people that a highly regarded former professional football player from the Arizona Cardinals was killed by his own fellow soldiers. In Jessica Lynch's case, the story about a severely wounded and possibly sexually assaulted female soldier in captivity quickly turned into a Rambo-esque young woman who continued to fight and kill enemy combatants despite being wounded and under heavy fire.
Decisions about releasing information during a time of war will always be difficult. Each battle or incident that requires reporting will produce information that either supports or discredits statements by our leaders, their policies or the goals they are trying to achieve. In order to win the "hearts and minds" battle, the military will continue to " integrate, coordinate and deconflict" information that it releases to the general public and worldwide news outlets.
In the case of Pat Tillman, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Army wanted to avoid reporting to the American people that a highly regarded former professional football player from the Arizona Cardinals was killed by his own fellow soldiers. In Jessica Lynch's case, the story about a severely wounded and possibly sexually assaulted female soldier in captivity quickly turned into a Rambo-esque young woman who continued to fight and kill enemy combatants despite being wounded and under heavy fire.
Decisions about releasing information during a time of war will always be difficult. Each battle or incident that requires reporting will produce information that either supports or discredits statements by our leaders, their policies or the goals they are trying to achieve. In order to win the "hearts and minds" battle, the military will continue to " integrate, coordinate and deconflict" information that it releases to the general public and worldwide news outlets.
Did the Army go too far in the case of Pat Tillman's friendly fire death? Was it too tempting to turn an attractive young, female POW into a legendary fighting machine at a time when the Pentagon needed some good news? These questions do not have right or wrong answers. In this writer's opinion, the truth should have prevailed in both of these cases.
As a nation, we should only bend or hide the truth when national security is at stake. Neither of these scenarios rises to that level. Pat Tillman's family should have been given the truth when the Army knew it and Jessica Lynch's story should have been told truthfully. As she stated, her fellow soldiers were the real heroes, particularly the ones who really fought and actually died that fateful day in Iraq.
Copyright (c) Joseph Collins 2007
Copyright (c) Joseph Collins 2007
This Article has been viewed 3,026 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)The systems won't work if they are not implemented with integrity and honour. I agree with you, Joseph. Had the rules been adhered to, you would not have had to write an excellent article about truth being compromised in these two instances! Wonderful title, too. I admire your writing abilities. One reason I enjoy reading your articles is because I always learn something. That's important to me. Thank you! Continue in His care. Happy Weekend! Be blessed.Avis, Thanks for commenting! The Tillman and Lynch stories make you wonder how many other families are dealing with untruthfulness from the military. That must be incredibly painful for a mother or father to have given their child in service only to have their country lie to them. As a veteran, I can attest to the fact that the military usually adheres to a high standard. I hope they can get back to that. It is a big part of what makes our military the best in the world. Be blessed!
Oh my God, you mean professed Christians lie, decieve, connieve, redirect? Joe I'm shocked. Does their Pastor know about this and are they speaking out? Well I agree with Avis. I do believe if honest people everywhere look at what is being done and bypasses what is being said they would be shock all over this land. I'm waiting for a leader who has the values they are quick to profess. I suspect we all know we need health care, I suspect we all know we need to resolve Iraq. I suspect we all know we will get amnesty and "Comprehensive Immigration reform". Joe, as always an excellent article. I'm just frustrated today. God Bless.Robert, Thanks for commenting! We all have days like that. To be honest, I think the policy questions you just raised are going to be the least of our problems over the next decade. Our economy is in for a rough ride in the coming years. Whether the next president is Democrat or Republican, he or she is going to have their hands full! God bless!
Joe have you ever seen the movie of "Ira Hayes"the Indian who raised the flag at Iwo Jima? In the movie he said the reason he went out to raise the flag was because he was cold. But he was celebrated a hero to promote the selling of war bonds. Don't get me wrong he was a hero, just to battle up Iwo Jima hill. But he died drunk because he failed his people here in the U.S.A. trying to get water rights on his people's land.David, Thanks for commenting! From the little I know about Ira Hayes, the American Indian soldier who may have helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima, it seems his country failed him. He should have come home to a hero's welcome and someone should have made sure he and his tribe received the assistance they needed. However, we know that is not how the story ended. It would be nice to see him recognized with a well funded charter school or a community center built among his people. Take care David.
Joe, The problem with all of this truth business is that we have known for years that things were amiss with our political and military leadership. Now we have the journalists, former CIA director, Dick Durbin and military pesonnel coming out of the woodwork trying to defend themselves. Where did good old fashion courage and integrity go? Just where is the axis of evil?James, Thanks for commenting! Both you and Sandra (below) have captured the sentiment of alot of Americans. Nixon caused Americans to be suspicious of govt. This admin has actually had the opposite effect. We are now so weary and worn down, we have actually become desensitized to lying from govt officials! Supporting this president is not about discipline among conservative ranks or support for the troops. It is a failure by some Americans to call distortion and lying by their names.
Very good article, Joseph. We don't need hype to make us stand behind something we can believe in; but we do need something we can believe in and we're definitely not getting it from our government!Sandra, Thanks for commenting! I agree with you. Hype is a great disservice to the 20k men and women who sustained life-altering injuries and the nearly 3,400 who have given their lives in this conflict. As to your point about honesty, this is no longer a question about Reps and Dems, conservatives and liberals. This admin is corrupt in ways that we have not seen in a long time and all of us need to stand up for integrity. I didn't like it when Clinton lied. This is no different.
Joseph, as a columnist, what do think about our news media when they rush to get the first brownie points and print a story without the true facts? Do you think they should have to shoulder some of the responsibility for blowing their source's comments to the max or is that just the norm for reporting? Just curious.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.