119^th in blog series on the administration push to war. As the election year proceeds, the tragedies of war continue, including the death of football star Pat Tillman, who gave up his pro contract to volunteer in Afghanistan. The death occurs under suspicious circumstances, and the administration instantly fabricates a John Wayne-style narrative.
April, 2004:

Apr. 18, 2004 – Bob Woodward is interviewed on CBS’ 60 Minutes about his new book on the Bush administration and the Iraq war, Plan of Attack:
 

“WALLACE: (Voiceover) Woodward reports that just five days after September 11th President Bush indicated to his National Security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, that while he had to do Afghanistan first, he was also determined to do something about Saddam Hussein.

Mr. WOODWARD: There was some pressure to go after Saddam Hussein.

WALLACE: Pressure from who?

Mr. WOODWARD: Don Rumsfeld has said, 'This--this is an opportunity to take out Saddam Hussein. Perhaps we should consider it.' And the president says to Condi Rice, meeting head-to-head, 'We won't do Iraq now.'

WALLACE: Right.

Mr. WOODWARD: 'But it is a question we're going to have to return to.' And--and there's this low boil on Iraq until the day before Thanksgiving, November 21st, 2001. This is 72 days after...

WALLACE: After.

Mr. WOODWARD: ...9/11. This is part of this secret history. President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically...

WALLACE: Mm-hmm.

Mr. WOODWARD: ...and takes him into a little cubby-hole room and closes the door and says, 'What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret.'
(Footage of Don Rumsfeld and Tommy Franks)”

One thing the Libby trial documents clarify is how much of Woodward’s information was already in Woodward’s possession by mid-2003. Had Woodward reported any significant fraction of what he knew at that time, although it would have been too late to prevent the Iraq war, it might have been timely in helping draw public scrutiny to problems with reconstruction in Iraq.

Differences between Plan of Attack and Woodward’s previous writing on the administration are telling. As Woodward and Bernstein noted at the end of their Watergate book All the President’s Men, public opinion can be significant even in Supreme Court cases. The trajectory of Woodward’s writing on the Bush administration also reflects, or at least tracks with, opinion polls.

Apr. 22, 2004 – Pat Tillman, the football star who joined the U.S. Army Rangers, is killed in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say that Tillman is killed in a firefight when his combat patrol unit is ambushed near the Pakistan border, about 90 miles south of the Afghan capital of Kabul. Tillman’s death sets off headlines around the world about his heroism, fairly enough. But the administration attempts to bask in the reflected glow without informing the public or Tillman’s family that the event was actually friendly fire or worse, see later.

Apr. 28, 2004 – CBS’ 60 Minutes II airs graphic and horrifying photographs from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, demonstrating the abuse of prisoners by U.S. service personnel and arousing widespread public outcry.

 
Subsequently the images aired are reported to be exceeded by many others not shown.

End of April 2004 – PNAC signatory and regime-change booster Dov Zakheim leaves the Pentagon. Zakheim is to become a partner at Booz Allen Hamilton.

 
Booz Allen Hamilton, a major military and security contractor, will be chosen to monitor the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance program.

Apr. 30, 2004 – Pat Tillman is posthumously awarded the Silver Star for bravery by the U.S. Army, which also posthumously promotes Tillman to corporal. The Army Special Operations Command releases a heroic narrative: Tillman’s platoon was split into two sections, with Tillman leading the lead group, when the group behind was ambushed.

Tillman's group was already safely out of the area, but Tillman ordered his group to approach the enemy, while he himself charged up a hill firing.

      “Through the firing Tillman's voice was heard issuing fire commands to take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground,” according to the narrative, and “As a result of his leadership and his team's efforts, the platoon trail section was able to maneuver through the ambush to positions of safety without a single casualty.”