Center for Media and Democracy on Tillman/Lynch hearings and LaVena Johnson story

Posted by Philip Barron at 1:56 PM on May 11, 2007.

Diane Farsetta, senior researcher for the Center for Media and Democracy, examines the subtexts of the April 24 House Oversight Committee hearing. In today's CMD Report titled "War vs. Democracy: Untold Stories from the Lynch / Tillman Hearing," Farsetta looks beyond the cases of Cpl. Pat Tillman and Pfc. Jessica Lynch to explore the rights and responsibilities of citizens during wartime when faced with military misinformation, embellishment, and deception.

A few things are clear. One is that the secrecy, deception and constraints sought by wartime administrations are anathema to the transparency, accountability and freedom necessary to democracy. As James Madison warned, "Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other."

Another truism is that citizens retain the right to receive information and provide guidance to their government during wartime. The last is that, while security concerns may legitimately restrict what information can be shared when, maintaining civilian oversight of war operations helps ensure that human rights standards are upheld.

Farsetta takes special note of Pfc. LaVena Johnson and other soldiers who died or were wounded under unexplained circumstances in Iraq and elsewhere. The report goes on to focus on the many aspects of the committee hearing that were glossed over or ignored altogether by mainstream press coverage.

Farsetta's report is well worth reading. It is welcome not only for its recognition of LaVena Johnson and other fallen soldiers, but its exposure of a negligent media and its insights into the broader costs to democracy brought about by the war.

(As before, I ask you to sign the LaVena Johnson petition to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, and to contact your legislator on those committees. Thanks.)

Tagged as: iraq, pat tillman, lavena johnson, jessica lynch

Philip Barron is a St. Louis writer and author of the blog Waveflux.