Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) revealed on Friday afternoon that the White House and Pentagon were holding up a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into the friendly fire death of former professional football player and Army Corporal Patrick Tillman. "[T]he Committee wrote to White House Counsel Fred Fielding seeking 'all documents received or generated by any official in the Executive Office of the President' relating to Corporal Tillman's death," noted a press release from the Committee. But the White House has apparently again invoked its executive privilege to hold up the documents sought by Waxman and Ranking Minority member Tom Davis (R-VA).

I dont have much else to say accept that Pat's family deserves better, and so do we. Support the troops and their families, contact congress and let them know we demand answers. This paragraph explains the importance of the truth:

"These questions have implications for the credibility of the information coming from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan and raise significant policy issues about how to prevent the future dissemination of untrue information," Waxman and Davis wrote to Fielding. "They also have a profound personal impact on the Tillman family. It is for these reasons that the Committee requested documents from the White House."

UPDATE:

This sticks out in the documents release:

ln response to a similar document request from the Committee,the Defense Department produced an e-mail sent on April 28, 2004, from John Currin, the White House speechwriter who drafted the Correspondents' Dinner speech, seeking additional information about Corporal Tillman from the Department of Defense.a This e-mail was not

produced by the White House, and no explanation was provided for the omission. Mr. Currin's request appears to have generated a high-level military memo warning that the President should be informed that Corporal Tillman was killed by friendly fire.

3 Days later Bush spoke at the White House Correspondants dinner where he not only invoked Tillman, but said this:

"They're willing to give up their lives and when one is lost a whole world of hopes and possibilities is lost with them," Bush said. "This evening, we think of the families who grieve and the families that wait on a loved one's safe return. We count ourselves lucky that this new generation of Americans is as brave and decent as any before it. And we honor with pride and wonder the men and women who carry the flag and the cause of the United States."

Honor them now Mr. Bush. Honor them now.