Donald Rumsfeld was up on the Hill today -- as you probably know -- to testify in hearings about Pat Tillman's death. The part of the testimony I caught wasn't particularly revealing; neither Rummy nor his former cronies remembered much about the incident. Rumsfeld, for example, couldn't recall whether he learned about it from the press or through aides.
Much more enlightening was yesterday's briefing with Secretary of the Army Peter Geren, who said:
*[T]here was a perfect storm of mistakes, misjudgments, and a failure of leadership that brought us where we are today, with the Army's credibility in question about a matter that strikes at the very heart of Army core values -- our commitment to our fallen soldiers and their grieving families; soldiers' loyalty to fallen soldiers.
*
Although I wish reporters at the Pentagon had press Geren harder on this:
I considered the possibility of a court martial [for Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who misled investigators]
I considered it long and hard, and for various reasons decided that it was not the best approach to address these circumstances...
I looked at many factors. There are evidentiary issues. As a court marital convening authority, you have to consider this from the perspective of judge and jury, and many different factors entered into my consideration, and certainly that was one. *
What's he trying to say here?
