The Tillman investigation stymied by bad memories:
The committee says that in their quest to find out when officials first knew about the possibility that Tillman’s death was not due to enemy fire, they were “frustrated by a near universal lack of recall,” according to the report.
The committee interviewed several senior White House officials including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, communications director Dan Bartlett, former Press Secretary Scott McClellan, and chief speech writer Michael Gerson.
“Not a single one could recall when he learned about the fratricide or what he did in response,” says the report.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers told the committee that he learned by the end of April that Tillman’s death was possibly due to friendly fire, but that he could not remember whether or not he passed that information to Rumsfeld.
Someone yesterday mentioned this Bob Somerby quip about the press, where he stated the following:
Let’s be cruel. Things have deteriorated to the point where staffers at People are mystified by the inanity of the political press corps.
At what point did it get this bad that the people in the Tillman case knew they could just get away with saying “I don’t remember” to everything, and no one would do anything about it? The Bush administration has been lying at will for years, and no one cares. How did it get this bad? When did it happen? How did it happen?
Should we get lucky and Obama wins the General, this will be my headline:
“Obama wins. Republicans and media rediscover Constitution, rule of law, limits on executive authority.”