Pat Tillman Family Respond to the Report on His Death

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 08:36:07 PM EST
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The family of Pat Tillman is not taking yesterday's report on his death quietly.

"The Army continues to deny the family, and the public that pays for the Army with its taxes, access to the original investigation, and the sworn statements from that investigation,” the statement read, adding that eyewitnesses’ statements of Corporal Tillman’s death have been altered. “This is not a misstep. It is evidence tampering.”

The Pentagon report, released on Monday, said officers had suspected early on that Corporal Tillman had been killed by American troops in an accidental fratricide, not hostile fire, as was initially reported. But despite their suspicions, it said, officers did not immediately inform the family of the possibility of such a death, in violation of Army regulations. As a result, four generals, and five other officers, will face disciplinary action.

But the Pentagon found no criminal wrongdoing or evidence of a cover-up in the death...

Pat Tillman's mother was on Countdown tonight, and she said she could not rule out that her son was killed intentionally.

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Pat Tillman Family Respond to the Report on His Death | 11 comments (11 topical)

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Disgusting, shameful, heartbreaking (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by scarshapedstar on Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 10:51:40 PM EST

Something is seriously, fundamentally wrong with our military leadership.

Slado isn't blaming the family (5.00 / 2) (#6)
by Che's Lounge on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 10:11:27 AM EST

He's insulting them:

she is leaving herself open to conspiracy theorists and political hacks on both sides and that is also regrettable and frankly the fault of the military for handling this so poorly from the start and so poorly up until now.

This is not Cindy Sheehan we are talking about. It's Tillman's whole family. And I think they are smart enough (smarter than Slado gives them credit for) to know a whitewash when they see one. So far NO ONE has been held accountable for the persistent lying to the Tillman's by the military. I would love to see a transcript of the eulogies given by Tillman's superiors at his funeral. Because they knew the truth while they eulogized him.

: what's your point? (none / 0) (#10)
by Slado on Thu Mar 29, 2007 at 05:05:17 PM EST

I said the military was at fault.
Possibly the Tillman's are using the media to get the message out so they don't care who uses them but both sides are using this tragedy to frame the debate.
It seems pretty clear to me that the military tried to cover up the freindly fire incident because of PR reasons and now that they've been caught they just keep digging deeper to no avail.
Anything more then that IMHO is spinning and while the Tillmans deserve the truth my point is they won't ever be satisfied by it because this whole thing has been made into such a mess by the the military.

Whats up with.... (none / 0) (#1)
by kdog on Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 09:09:20 PM EST

Tillman's diary getting destroyed? I'd never heard about that before, it was mentioned during the piece on Olberman. If true, that raises some serious red flags in my mind.

I hope this isn't dragged out in the media... (none / 0) (#3)
by Slado on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 07:59:09 AM EST

I think ultimately this women will never be able to console herself because her son was killed by our own troops.

Best case scenario is that it was a terrible and preventable accident. Worst case is he was killed in some sort of dispute but I personally think it unlikely.

No matter what happened it appears the military was either trying to cover up the accident or the hint of wrongdoing or they simply bumbled the investigation and are trying to cover that up.

No matter this is a public disaster for the military and they are best served in coming clean on whatever did or didn't happen becasue ultimately there is no good ending to this.

A brave American who did all the right things and volunteered to serve his country was killed by freindly fire. It happens, it's regretable but it's made worse by the appearance of a cover-up and becomes political ammunition when it is handled this poorly by the military.

I can't criticize the mother because she is greiving and deserves to know that truth but she is leaving herself open to conspiracy theorists and political hacks on both sides and that is also regrettable and frankly the fault of the military for handling this so poorly from the start and so poorly up until now.

I don't blame the family ... (none / 0) (#4)
by Sailor on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 09:48:10 AM EST

... for being mad. A small example of why they're upset:

A Pentagon report said there was no enemy fire at Tillman's position, but the military continues to insist his unit was the target of enemy fire in the canyon.

Friendly (none / 0) (#5)
by jondee on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 10:02:40 AM EST

fire deaths in every war. Rape, torture, cold-blooded murder, and psychological trauma to untold numbers in every war.

Thats why it should be an absolute last resort and not "diplomacy by other means" or a political manuvre to appeal to the hurray-for-ourside lynch mob.

Tillman's family... (none / 0) (#7)
by desertswine on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 10:16:50 AM EST

has been treated very poorly by the military. They obviously tried to use his death as a tool to promote the administration's war.

"Some say . . . ." (none / 0) (#8)
by walt on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 11:29:52 AM EST

With my own version of FauxSnooz aplomb, it has been rumored that Pat Tillman was going public with a rant about what a disaster he was involved with in Afghanistan.

For the US Army, Tillman was a recruiting poster boy & the Pentagon may have intended to use him here in the States as a speaker, parade grand marshal, advertising star & general all-around huckster. That sort of unraveled, hunh? So they attempted to twist his death into a well-spun sideshow of Rovewellian hucksterism.

Rumors abound & will become much worse. This will hurt the family.

John Elway and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dedicate Pat Tillman USO Center in Afghanistan-----and all of this wore very thin, very quickly. It is sad that the publicity hounds at the Pentagon tried to "use" Tillman even after his death. "They" blew it & some say they deserve all the blowback that will come now.

Slado's comment... (none / 0) (#9)
by Altor on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 05:26:06 PM EST

"Best case scenario is that it was a terrible and preventable accident. Worst case is he was killed in some sort of dispute but I personally think it unlikely."

I have a question about that - anyone who ever handled an automatic weapon knows how hard it is to get two bullets to hit the same location on a target. Pat Tillman died from THREE shots to the head, fired supposedly by someone who was far enough not to recognize him as a US soldier. What does that mean? and why burn the guy's uniform and body armor, if this was just a "terrible and preventable accident"?

: Well... (none / 0) (#11)
by Slado on Thu Mar 29, 2007 at 05:11:55 PM EST

I think IMHO that somebody low on the food chain made the terrible decision to make it look like he died in combat instead of freindly fire and now the military is in a self generated scandal trying to cover-up the cover-up of the original cover-up.