You said — “I don’t see how Lynch is saying anything that is at odds with the Pentagon... everybody’s pretty much on the same page, seems to me.”
I would like to see Jessica Lynch’s full statement to the committee and see what she is saying. You see.., if everyone is “on the same page”, I have no idea why she sees it necessary to “set the record straight”.
If it’s simply a “press thing”, then just give a press conference and answer questions and make the statement. But, since she’s going to the “government” itself (through a committe hearing) this is what one does to argue against one’s own government (either positively or negatively, depending on the topic at hand).
And so, “press conference” for the press — committee hearings regarding problems with the government. That’s how I see her doing it...
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You said — “I haven’t seen where we, or Tillman’s parents, were told some different Army-fabricated narrative before the facts were known. The media might have embellished things a little bit, but none of that came from the Army.”
If that’s so, all it takes is a simple explanation and statement from Tillmans’ parents and that would be it. I would also like to hear from them, in an *unfiltered way* — their complete understanding *and* statement about this whole thing. That is another thing that needs to be secured...
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And lastly — “If you want to point fingers at people coloring the story to fit their own plot outline, look to the media. They had these red-meat stories that they really wanted to tell. So they told them before they really knew anything.”
Now, if this is the case, that it’s simply the press which is not taking accurate information from the military (i.e., what the military supplied to them as accurate) — and the press was building something out of nothing, then it would be easy to prove such a thing. You would go to official statements and say, “See here... and there.. and there...” And that would be it. Next you would point to a “press account” and say, “See here, and there, and there...” and point out that these were false. And that would clear it up.
And if that was the case, Tillman’s parents would go to the press and say (in a press conference) — “You guys have got it all wrong, and we would like to set things straight. Here’s what the Pentagon has said all along, and we want you to get these facts that have been given to you.”
That would be one press conference. The other one would be Jessica Lynch. She would have a press conference and say, “You have been printing wrong information and wrong implications and I would like to present you with what the Pentagon has supplied you from the beginning. Here is what they have told you, and it matches what I have told you — so you all need to correct this in your news reports.”
But, it seems, instead — that Jessica Lynch goes to a committe hearing. Well, people don’t go to committe hearings to address the press. You do that in interviews and press conferences. You go to committe hearings to *address the government*. It seems that Jessica Lynch is not addressing the press and wrong stories that they’ve originated, it seems that she is addressing her government...
Uh... neither. They're going to committee hearings because they've been subpoena'd by Henry Waxman, so that he can craft some headlines for his political benefit during a tense standoff with the President over funding the war.
You thought that they went before congress because it was *their* idea? C'mon...
I recall both incidents vividly. I was paying attention. I don't need to research what was done and said at the time. If you have information to the contrary, then post it.