Tillman, who gave up a multimillion-dollar football contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the army after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was actually killed by 'friendly fire'.

The Pentagon destroyed evidence showing the true circumstances of his death and manufactured a story that Tillman was storming a hill to take out the enemy. On the basis of this fictitious account, Tillman was posthumously awarded the silver star for valour.

It is not known if the White House was involved in the fabrication. Tillman's mother, Mary, said that US President George W. Bush had offered to tape a memorial to her son for a Cardinals game that would be televised shortly before election day, but she declined the offer. The White House has refused to turn over to Congress internal documents that relate to Tillman's death, citing executive privilege.

As for Ms Lynch, the Pentagon put out a story in 2003 - widely publicised in the US media - that depicted her fighting valiantly, emptying her gun before finally succumbing to gunshot and stab wounds from Iraqi ambushers, before being freed by American forces in a daring raid on a heavily guarded Iraqi hospital.

In fact, Ms Lynch told Congress that her gun had jammed and she had not fired a single shot. 'The story of the little girl 'Rambo' from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting was not true,' she said. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating inaccurate accounts of the battlefield actions. Although public attention focused on the Tillman and Lynch cases, many other less-publicised situations have also surfaced. In quite a few, the Pentagon deliberately depicted soldiers as having died while fighting the enemy, even though this was not true.

The allegations that the government lied to the American public are reminiscent of charges frequently made by critics, myself included, of deception and lies on the part of Chinese authorities.

For many years, the Chinese government has held up 'model' citizens for emulation, primarily workers or soldiers. One soldier in particular, Lei Feng , has been held up as a model, not so much for his heroism as for his selflessness, performing such deeds as washing his fellow soldiers' clothes while they slept.

Many American journalists have written articles over the years deriding these accounts, including questioning whether he actually existed. Now, it seems, the US is also in the business of creating heroes, although of a different kind.

The difference is that, in the US, while the press was initially taken in by the official accounts, it ultimately worked to uncover the true story. And Congress, as a separate branch of the government, is able to hold hearings and call witnesses to expose the lies of the executive branch.

The mainland, too, may discover one day that it is in the interests of the country that the press be allowed the freedom to report independently, rather than simply be treated as a government mouthpiece.

Moreover, it may come to realise that sharing power with the National People's Congress will result in better governance for the Chinese people - something that the Communist Party surely must favour.

Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator