What The Army Doesn't Want You To Know

Change and transparency have been promised to be delivered by Barack Obama when he takes office two months from today, but that is a long time a way when it comes to cover-ups and the low level of trust Americans should have in their nation's military. The scandal surrounding the death of Pat Tillman was a sad story, but unfortunately this "friendly-fire" occurrence was not an isolated incident. In fact, it was one of the better ones because at least his mother could piece the details together, unlike what the army is doing with the similar tragedies that befell other troops.

From RawStory:

In late 2006, two American soldiers from Fort Carson died in Iraq. The army said the privates were killed by enemy action. But in October of this year, Salon revealed that the two men had in fact been killed by friendly tank fire.

Now, Salon has found that the documents related to the men's deaths were shredded just hours after the story was published.

"Three soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. -- including two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died -- were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents about [Albert] Nelson and [Roger] Suarez," reporter Mark Benjamin writes. "One of the soldiers preserved some of the documents as proof that the shredding occurred and provided them to Salon. All three soldiers, with the assistance of a U.S. senator's office, have since been relocated for their safety."

The night the Salon story ran, Oct. 14, 2008, a staff sergeant told three soldiers to shred two boxes of documents relating to the privates' deaths.

That is exactly the type of accountability (or lack there of) that needs to be quashed. If someone screws up, they must face the consequences of their actions. If it was a mistake by another soldier, then it should be dealt with out in the open, not hidden, not lied about and not leading to a situation that desecrates those that die from friendly fire. The families of our brave men and women need to be told the truth, even if it embarrasses the Pentagon.

PBS Withdrew Torture Story Under Threats From Bush

Freedom of the press is more of a joke than ever. Although this isn't the first time PBS has been threatened with funding cuts for airing damaging stories of Bush, it is always sad to see the government cracking down on dissenters. Covering up the torture allowed by the current Administration is pertinent to escape any possible war crimes trials. For neo-cons, cutting their funding is a no-brainer and they could care less about how it looks. So PBS saved their own ass by retreating.

From ThinkProgress:

Scott Horton reports today that PBS may have refused to nationally air a controversial documentary on the use of torture by the U.S. government in order to protect its funding. Previously, the Bush administration threatened to cut PBS’s funding after it aired Bush’s War, a Frontline special critical of the war in Iraq:

On Thursday evening WNET in New York will air an important new documentary by Emmy and Dupont Award winning producer Sherry Jones entitled “Torturing Democracy.” It appears on WNET and several other affiliates independently because PBS would not run the show. […]

According to producer Sherry Jones, PBS told her that “no time slot could be found for the documentary before January 21, 2009″ — the day after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.

Watch a clip from Torturing Democracy here.

Another reminder of your tax dollars at work....working against you. An informed citizenry is the last thing the President wants and he'll do anything to keep us as ignorant as possible. Hopefully starting in late January, we can start anew with a President that actually cares about a free press. It would be a substantial improvement over the current one that snubs it and the potential successor that once embraced it and now attacks the Fourth Estate on a daily basis.

Deutsche Bank Cover-Up At The FDNY?

Nearly two months have gone by since the huge blaze at the Deutsche Bank building has passed, and now Firefighter unions are confident enough to say that the FDNY is trying to cover their tracks in the wake of an investigation started after two firefighters were killed there that day.

From ABC7:

The heads of the Uniformed Firefighters and Fire Officers Associations say top brass at the department told fire chiefs at a meeting last month to stop sending any E-mails about the fire at the Ground Zero skyscraper.

The deadly blaze on August 18 exposed dangerous fire hazards at the contaminated building, which was in the process of being dismantled.

Firefighters union president Steve Cassidy says the department doesn't want the truth about the investigation to come out.

There have been too many "coincidences" to rule out foul play at the top of the FDNY. Hopefully the independent investigation will get past the roadblocks set up by the higher-ups at the Fire Department. The families of Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino deserve the truth and those that are tied to their deaths need to be held accountable. We can not allow this type of negligence to occur again for NY's Bravest.

White House Hides Tillman Records

You would think that hiding, lying and distorting dozens of different stories might be hard for the White House, but they just keep on doing it. Bush is using that good ol' Executive privilege to deny Pat Tillman's family and the American people the truth about what happened with his death and the following cover-up. Congressmen Waxman (D-CA) and Davis (R-VA) from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are on the case yet again.

From The Huffington Post:

The committee made public a letter last month in which Fielding said the White House was holding back certain papers "because they implicate executive branch confidentiality interests." He added the White House had blacked out portions of "purely internal e-mails between White House personnel."

The White House's argument for withholding some papers is the same one it used last month as it rejected congressional subpoenas for documents in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Executive "confidentiality" is a lesser claim than "executive privilege" _ more a polite way of declining than a firm refusal _ and thus still leaves room for negotiation, congressional staffers involved in the matter said.

Fielding added the White House had blacked out portions of "purely internal e-mails between White House personnel."

Waxman and Davis fired back that "these are not appropriate reasons for withholding the documents from the committee." And they charged that the White House had simply held other papers back.

Basically in my mind, I believe the President wants to look perfect and innocent on this. If he can cover-up the fact that he knew Tillman died of friendly fire yet use his death for political bonus points, thats the name of the game. Rumsfeld and everyone below him knew, they just hid the information for Bush. Now that things are still ugly, George is using his new Presidential powers that the Congress allows him to have to give the finger to the legislative branch.