Perhaps some kind FReeper can dig up the articles for me, but there was a young, blond male soldier who died heroically, fighting to his last, from that unit and in that battle. Apparently, his actions were mistakenly credited to Jessica; however, the record was later corrected. Articles were written about him, with interviews from his parents. If I recall correctly, his first name was Steven.
There doesn't appear to have been any forethought of malice, just spotty intelligence during a frenzied period, which was later reported because it came from a bonafide source. From there, the media had a feeding frenzy.
Blair did the same damned thing, so I am not immediately blaming the administration for putting out these bad facts to be charitable. These reporters need to be accountable for the error filled report they filed.