"How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?"

The committee cited one exchange between White House political chief Karl Rove and Ron Fournier, then a political reporter for The Associated Press.

In a chain under the subject line "H-E-R-O," Rove replied to an e-mail from Fournier by saying, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?"

Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight.

The man they were referring to in this case was Pat Tillman, the ex-football player turned soldier whose death by friendly fire in Afghanistan in April 2004 is back in the news these days. Fournier, who is currently the AP's acting Washington bureau chief, has issued an apology that, even by today's minimal standards, is a depressing piece of shit:

"I was an AP political reporter at the time of the 2004 e-mail exchange, and was interacting with a source, a top aide to the president, in the course of following an important and compelling story. I regret the breezy nature of the correspondence."

emphasis mine

You'll recall that both the White House and the Army sought, in the days and weeks following Tillman's death, to portray it as an act of heroism and exploit its propaganda value, despite knowing from the get-go that he had been killed by friendly fire. His family wasn't too happy about that.

Other highlights from the Congressional report on Pat Tillman's death:

In the case of Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, White House officials generated nearly 200 e-mails on the matter the day after, the committee found. Politics seemed to fuel the administration's interest: Several of the e-mails came from the staff of President Bush's re-election campaign, urging Bush to respond publicly.

The White House "rushed" to release a public statement of condolence at about noon on April 23.

But in doing so, the White House violated a military policy enacted into law by Bush himself in 2003, the committee found. The Military Family Peace of Mind Act bars the announcement of a casualty until 24 hours after a family is notified.

. . .

The committee received a flurry of White House e-mails sent as the Bush administration responded to Tillman's death, but no documents about friendly fire. The committee interviewed several top White House officials about the case, but "not a single one could recall when he learned about the fratricide or what he did in response," it said in its 48-page report.

. . .

Speechwriters and fact-checkers expended hundreds of words in e-mail memos trying to confirm that Tillman and his brother Kevin had joined the Army because of the attacks of Sept. 11, but could not do so, because the brothers had rarely or never spoken publicly about it.

Nevertheless, Bush's remarks to the correspondents' association contained what one White House official admitted was a "speculative" statement by Bush: "Friends say that this young man saw the images of September the 11th, and seeing that evil, he felt called to defend America."

White House spokesman Trey Bohn said Monday that officials there cooperated extensively with the committee during its investigation.

"The report contains no evidence that the White House said anything incorrect or misleading regarding the death of Corporal Tillman," Bohn said. "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Tillman family."

. . .

The committee also looked into the case of Army Spc. Jesse Buryj of Canton, Ohio. It took nine months for his family to learn that his death in Iraq in May 2004 was not the result of an accidental vehicle crash as they were first told. He was killed by fire from U.S. or Polish soldiers in Karbala after a dump truck hurtled through a checkpoint and crashed into the armored vehicle in which he was riding.

Buryj's parents accepted an invitation to meet Bush at a July 2004 campaign rally. They told investigators they had pressed Bush to help them find answers about their son's death, and said Bush agreed to help.

"A few months later, a Bush-Cheney campaign official contacted the family," the congressional investigators found. "Rather than offer assistance, the official asked Specialist Buryj's mother to appear in a campaign commercial for the president. Mrs. Buryj refused."

"How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?"

Good question.