A subtle pattern

Today's newspaper included an article about Congress' pursuit of testimony from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and five generals about the friendly-fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, the San Jose, Calif., guy who gave up a career in the National Football League to fight in Afghanistan. It seems that the military knew after a couple of days that Tillman was shot, by mistake of course, by soldiers in his own unit, yet told the public for weeks that Tillman had been killed by the Taliban. The military continues to obfuscate, refusing to release documents requested by Congress. It's not bad enough that his family had to endure the tragedy of his death, however it happened. But to be told one thing by the military, only to find out that was a lie -- I just don't know how extra-bad that feels. And to think that our own military commanders would lie about something that serious -- well, it's hard to put anything past this bunch. It's not the lying -- no, it is the lying -- but it's the lying about the lying that makes it so much worse. Gee, where have I heard this before. Doesn't it sound like the U.S. Attorney firings case? Jessica Lynch? Saddam's WMD? Hmm, perhaps a subtle pattern is beginning to emerge.