[Phoneemer]

Jul 27, 1:48 AM EDT

AP: New Details on Tillman's Death


Click image for video.

By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP National Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.

The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.

Ultimately, the Pentagon did conduct a criminal investigation, and asked Tillman's comrades whether he was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed. The Pentagon eventually ruled that Tillman's death at the hands of his comrades was a friendly-fire accident.

The medical examiners' suspicions were outlined in 2,300 pages of testimony released to the AP this week by the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Among other information contained in the documents:

- In his last words moments before he was killed, Tillman snapped at a panicky comrade under fire to shut up and stop "sniveling."

- Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.

- The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman's death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn't recall details of his actions.

- No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene - no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.

The Pentagon and the Bush administration have been criticized in recent months for lying about the circumstances of Tillman's death. The military initially told the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by enemy fire. Only weeks later did the Pentagon acknowledge he was gunned down by fellow Rangers.

With questions lingering about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached, Congress is preparing for yet another hearing next week.

The Pentagon is separately preparing a new round of punishments, including a stinging demotion of retired Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., 60, according to military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the punishments under consideration have not been made public.

In more than four hours of questioning by the Pentagon inspector general's office in December 2006, Kensinger repeatedly contradicted other officers' testimony, and sometimes his own. He said on some 70 occasions that he did not recall something.

At one point, he said: "You've got me really scared about my brain right now. I'm really having a problem."

Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, who has long suggested that her son was deliberately killed by his comrades, said she is still looking for answers and looks forward to the congressional hearings next week.

"Nothing is going to bring Pat back. It's about justice for Pat and justice for other soldiers. The nation has been deceived," she said.

The documents show that a doctor who autopsied Tillman's body was suspicious of the three gunshot wounds to the forehead. The doctor said he took the unusual step of calling the Army's Human Resources Command and was rebuffed. He then asked an official at the Army's Criminal Investigation Division if the CID would consider opening a criminal case.

"He said he talked to his higher headquarters and they had said no," the doctor testified.

Also according to the documents, investigators pressed officers and soldiers on a question Mrs. Tillman has been asking all along.

"Have you, at any time since this incident occurred back on April 22, 2004, have you ever received any information even rumor that Cpl. Tillman was killed by anybody within his own unit intentionally?" an investigator asked then-Capt. Richard Scott.

Scott, and others who were asked, said they were certain the shooting was accidental.

Investigators also asked soldiers and commanders whether Tillman was disliked, whether anyone was jealous of his celebrity, or if he was considered arrogant. They said Tillman was respected, admired and well-liked.

The documents also shed new light on Tillman's last moments.

It has been widely reported by the AP and others that Spc. Bryan O'Neal, who was at Tillman's side as he was killed, told investigators that Tillman was waving his arms shouting "Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat (expletive) Tillman, damn it!" again and again.

But the latest documents give a different account from a chaplain who debriefed the entire unit days after Tillman was killed.

The chaplain said that O'Neal told him he was hugging the ground at Tillman's side, "crying out to God, help us. And Tillman says to him, `Would you shut your (expletive) mouth? God's not going to help you; you need to do something for yourself, you sniveling ..."

---

Associated Press reporters Scott Lindlaw in Las Vegas and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this story.

[Draftcasino.com]

Jul 26, 3:05 PM EDT

General faces demotion in Tillman case

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer

Interactive timeline of the Events Surrounding Tillman's Death

April 2004 Memo Warning It Was 'Highly Possible' Tillman Was Killed by Friendly Fire (Redacted by Source): pdf document

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Army Secretary Peter Geren is expected to recommend that a retired three-star general be demoted for his role in providing misleading information about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, military officials say, in what would be a stinging and rare rebuke.
Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who headed Army special operations, is one of seven high-ranking Army officers expected to get official reprimands for making critical errors in reporting the circumstances of Tillman's friendly-fire shooting in Afghanistan in April 2004.
The officials requested anonymity because the punishments under consideration by Geren have not been made public. The Army said that no final decisions have been made, and that once they are and the Tillman family and Congress have been notified, there will be an announcement sometime next week.
Geren also is considering issuing a letter of censure to Kensinger, who is receiving the harshest punishment of those involved in what has become a three-year controversy that triggered more than half a dozen investigations. Five other officers, including three generals, are expected to be issued less severe letters criticizing their actions.
Army officials opted not to impose harsher punishments, which could have included additional demotions, dishonorable discharges or even jail time. One senior officer, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, escaped punishment.
Tillman's death received worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Tillman's mother, Mary, said the impending punishments were inadequate.
"I'm not satisfied with any of it," she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
She rejected the Pentagon's characterization of the officers' offenses as "errors" in reporting Tillman's death, when several officers have said they had made conscious decisions not to tell Tillman's family that friendly fire was suspected.
Geren's pending decisions come four months after two investigative reports found that Army officers provided misleading and inaccurate information about Tillman's death. A central issue in the case has been why the Army waited about five weeks after it suspected the former NFL star's death was caused by friendly fire before telling his family.
The probes found that nine officers - including four generals - were at fault in providing the bad information and should be held accountable. But the reports determined that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the actual shooting, and that there was no deliberate cover-up.
Geren then tapped Gen. William Wallace to review the probes and recommend disciplinary actions. Wallace disagreed with initial findings against McChrystal, according to the military officials.
But Wallace also surprised Army officials by singling out a 10th officer for rebuke - one who had not been blamed in the earlier reports.
Brig. Gen. Gina Farrisee, who is director of military personnel management at the Pentagon, is expected to receive a letter of punishment for her involvement in the oversight of the awarding of Tillman's Silver Star.
Two others who were blamed in earlier reports are also expected to receive letters of admonishment: Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, who led one of the early Army investigations into the matter, and now-Brig. Gen. James C. Nixon, who was Tillman's regimental commander.
Jones, now retired from the Army, was faulted for failing to address several issues in his probe, leading to speculation that Army officials were concealing information about Tillman's death.
Nixon was criticized for failing to ensure that Tillman's family was told.
The names of the three lower level officers expected to be punished have not been released by the military, but they are likely among the five who were blamed - but also not named - in the earlier investigations.
According to an AP analysis of the reports and other documents, those five officers include then-Capt. Richard Scott, who conducted the first investigation into the shooting; then-Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who conducted the second; and then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey, the battalion commander who oversaw Tillman's platoon and played a role in the recommendation for his Silver Star. Officials would not say if any of those three were among the ones recommended for rebuke.
It is no surprise that Kensinger, 60, is targeted for the most severe punishment. An investigation by the Defense Department's inspector general found "compelling evidence that Kensinger learned of suspected fratricide well before the memorial service and provided misleading testimony" on that issue. That misrepresentation, the report said, could constitute a "false official statement," a violation of the Military Code of Justice.
Farrisee's rebuke is tied to the Army recommendations that Tillman receive the Silver Star. The investigations found that Army officials were aware that Tillman was likely killed by friendly fire even as they were moving ahead with the medal that was awarded for heroism in the face of the enemy.
If Geren does recommend to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Kensinger lose a star and be demoted to major general, that would trigger a decrease in his retirement pension and benefits.
The letters of rebuke for the others could also be crippling blows. They can include letters of concern, reprimand or censure, with escalating degrees of gravity.
"For officers generally, a reprimand is a devastating career injury," said Eugene Fidell, a lawyer who specializes in military cases and teaches at American University's Washington College of Law. "It can trigger an effort to throw the person out of the military, it can trigger a reduction in pay grade when the time comes to retire, it can prevent a future promotion, and it can gum up a promotion that has already been decided."
For a one-star general, Fidell said, it could mean they are likely to never get a second star. And, he said, a lower level officer, such as a captain, "would have to dig out of a deep hole to continue his or her career. Letters of reprimand are truly bad news."
---
Associated Press reporter Scott Lindlaw contributed to this story from Las Vegas.

[QYD8eQ8F]

JUL 24, 2007

Congress Wants Answers on Tillman Death
Congress Wants Answers From White House on Friendly-Fire Death of Pat Tillman

By SCOTT LINDLAW
The Associated Press

Congressional investigators told the White House on Tuesday that they intend to question several former Bush administration officials about their knowledge of Pat Tillman's death, escalating their inquiry into the high-profile friendly fire case.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee's top-ranking Republican, also pressed for drafts of a speech President Bush made in the weeks before it became publicly known that the former NFL star was killed by his own troops. In the 2004 speech at the White House correspondents' dinner, Bush didn't mention how Tillman died.

The congressmen informed White House counsel Fred Fielding of their intentions in a letter Tuesday. The White House was reviewing the letter, spokesman Trey Bohn said.

"As part of our ongoing investigation, the committee plans to interview or depose former White House officials regarding when and how White House and Pentagon officials learned that Corporal Tillman's death in Afghanistan in April 2004 was caused by friendly fire," Waxman and Davis wrote.

The former White House officials would likely be allowed to choose whether to be deposed under oath or interviewed, committee officials said.

The five former White House officials the committee plans to question are Dan Bartlett, the recently resigned White House counselor and communications czar; Scott McClellan, a former White House press secretary; Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter; John Currin, a former fact-checker on the speechwriting team; and Taylor Gross, another former spokesman.

Congressional investigators are interested in what White House staff members knew because Tillman's family and others believe officials at the highest levels of government hid facts to limit public-relations damage.

Tillman, a San Jose native, turned down a lucrative contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army following the Sept. 11 attacks. He was killed April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan.

Although Pentagon investigators determined quickly that he was killed by his own troops, five weeks passed before the circumstances of his death were made public. During that time, the Army claimed he was killed by enemy fire.

A week after Tillman died, a top general sent a memo to Gen. John Abizaid, then head of Central Command, warning that it was "highly possible" that Tillman was killed by friendly fire. The memo made clear that the information should be conveyed to the president. The White House said there is no indication that President Bush received the warning.

Bush's speech at the correspondents' dinner came two days later.

Fielding had resisted providing drafts of the speech personally reviewed by Bush. Waxman's committee relented after several days of behind-the-scenes negotiations, but it continues to insist that the White House turn over drafts not reviewed by the president.

"We note that the administration has previously provided drafts of the president's 2003 State of the Union Address making the case for war against Iraq perhaps the most significant speech of the Bush presidency to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence," Waxman and Davis wrote. "We see no reason why drafts of the president's remarks to a correspondents' dinner would merit greater secrecy than drafts of the State of the Union Address."

Last week, after the committee complained publicly of selective stonewalling, the White House made about 400 pages of additional documents available, according to the letter.

The White House and Defense Department had previously turned over nearly 10,000 pages of papers mostly press clippings. The White House cited "executive branch confidentiality interests" in refusing to provide other documents.

The committee plans a second hearing on Tillman's death for Aug. 1, this time to probe what senior Pentagon officials knew and when.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Abizaid were among those the committee invited Friday to appear.

[bactrimtab]

Excerpt from:

How Bush Uses His Generals
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, July 16, 2007; 2:00 PM

*****

The Pat Tillman Dodge

This could be the sleeper story of the weekend. Is the White House, in its latest assertion of executive privilege, essentially conceding that it was involved in trying to cover up the real circumstances of football hero Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan?

Scott Lindlaw writes for the Associated Press: "Two influential lawmakers investigating how and when the Bush administration learned the circumstances of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death and how those details were disclosed accused the White House and Pentagon on Friday of withholding key documents and renewed their demand for the material.

"The White House and Defense Department have turned over nearly 10,000 pages of papers -- mostly press clippings -- but the White House cited ' executive branch confidentiality interests' in refusing to provide other documents. . . .

"Tillman's family and others have said they believe the erroneous information peddled by the Pentagon was part of a deliberate cover-up that may have reached all the way to President Bush and then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. . . .

"Executive 'confidentiality' is a lesser claim than 'executive privilege' -- more a polite way of declining than a firm refusal -- and thus still leaves room for negotiation, congressional staffers involved in the matter said."

Josh White writes in The Washington Post: "Tillman's celebrity, as one who gave up a professional football contract to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, made his death major news. The military at first concocted a heroic story about how [he] had been killed in a fierce firefight with the enemy, despite obvious evidence that he had been shot by his own men at close range. . . .

"'The main focus of the committee's investigation is to examine what the White House and the leadership of the Department of Defense knew about Corporal Tillman's death and when they knew it,' [the two congressmen] said in a letter to Fielding. 'Unfortunately, the document production from the White House sheds virtually no light on these matters.'"

Here's more from the House Oversight Committee.

[plalleste]

Panel Demands Records on Tillman's Death

By SCOTT LINDLAW
The Associated Press
Friday, July 13, 2007; 8:52 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two influential lawmakers investigating how and when the Bush administration learned the circumstances of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death and how those details were disclosed accused the White House and Pentagon on Friday of withholding key documents and renewed their demand for the material.

The White House and Defense Department have turned over nearly 10,000 pages of papers _ mostly press clippings _ but the White House cited "executive branch confidentiality interests" in refusing to provide other documents.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee's top-ranking Republican, said Friday the documents were inadequate. They insisted that the Defense Department turn over the additional material by July 25 and asked that the White House do likewise.

Tillman, a San Jose native, turned down a lucrative contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army following the Sept. 11 attacks. He was killed April 22, 2004, by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

Although Pentagon investigators determined quickly that he was killed by his own troops, five weeks passed before the circumstances of his death were made public. During that time, the Army claimed he was killed by enemy fire.

Tillman's family and others have said they believe the erroneous information peddled by the Pentagon was part of a deliberate cover-up that may have reached all the way to President Bush and then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. The committee said Friday it had scheduled a second hearing on Tillman's death for Aug. 1, this time to probe what senior Pentagon officials knew and when.

Rumsfeld and Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among those the committee invited Friday to appear.

The White House has turned over nearly 1,100 pages of documents and the Defense Department nearly 8,500 pages since the committee requested information from them in April, part of an inquiry into why Tillman's family and the public were misled.

"The document production from the White House sheds virtually no light on these matters," Waxman and Davis wrote to White House counsel Fred Fielding, part of a renewed request for additional papers.

The committee made public a letter last month in which Fielding said the White House was holding back certain papers "because they implicate executive branch confidentiality interests." He added the White House had blacked out portions of "purely internal e-mails between White House personnel."

The White House's argument for withholding some papers is the same one it used last month as it rejected congressional subpoenas for documents in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Executive "confidentiality" is a lesser claim than "executive privilege" _ more a polite way of declining than a firm refusal _ and thus still leaves room for negotiation, congressional staffers involved in the matter said.

Fielding added the White House had blacked out portions of "purely internal e-mails between White House personnel."

Waxman and Davis fired back that "these are not appropriate reasons for withholding the documents from the committee." And they charged that the White House had simply held other papers back.

In particular, they expressed doubt that the two documents they'd received on communications between the White House and Pentagon on Tillman's death were the only ones of their kind. One was simply a packet of newspaper clippings.

"Corporal Tillman's death was a major national story," they wrote. "It is not plausible that there were no communications between the Defense Department and the White House about Corporal Tillman's death."

"The committee was fully aware that certain documents were withheld as our letter to them made clear last month _ along with our offer to discuss possible accommodation that meets the committee's interests while respecting separation of powers principles," Blair Jones, a White House spokesman, said Friday evening. "We continue to offer an opportunity for the committee to move forward in a spirit of accommodation, rather than conflict."

Waxman and Davis complained to Defense Secretary Robert Gates of a "failure to provide a complete production to the committee." For instance, the committee received no documentation on how Rumsfeld learned of Tillman's death.

They said the Pentagon had not produced any papers from, among others, the offices of Gen. John Abizaid, then head of Central Command.

A week after Tillman died, a top general sent a memo to Abizaid warning that it was "highly possible" that Tillman was killed by friendly fire. The memo made clear that the information should be conveyed to the president. The White House said there is no indication that Bush received the warning.

Two days later, the president mentioned Tillman in a speech to the White House correspondents dinner, but he made no reference to how Tillman had died.

A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Separately, Waxman asked the Republican National Committee for copies of e-mail communications that involved Tillman and White House officials. That request was an outgrowth of the oversight committee's finding last month that 88 White House officials had e-mail accounts with the RNC, and that the administration may have committed extensive violations of a law requiring that certain records be preserved.

[sbrscnds]

White House Denies Request for Documents in Ex-NFL Player's Death

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 14, 2007; A03

The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred F. Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting "implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests."

Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), the leading members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, objected to the refusal yesterday in letters to the White House and the Defense Department.

White House and Pentagon officials have turned over about 10,000 pages of material, but Waxman and Davis said those papers do not include critical documents that would show communications between senior administration officials and top military officers shortly after Tillman was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.

Tillman's celebrity, as one who gave up a professional football contract to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, made his death major news. The military at first concocted a heroic story about how Tillman, a specialist posthumously promoted to corporal, had been killed in a fierce firefight with the enemy, despite obvious evidence that he had been shot by his own men at close range. More than a month later, a military investigation reported publicly that the death was not linked to enemy fire.

"The main focus of the committee's investigation is to examine what the White House and the leadership of the Department of Defense knew about Corporal Tillman's death and when they knew it," Waxman and Davis said in a letter to Fielding. "Unfortunately, the document production from the White House sheds virtually no light on these matters."

After an oversight hearing in April -- in which Tillman's family members testified -- the committee sought the documents to learn about the alleged coverup and the high-level discussions about how to spin the case. Waxman and Davis plan to hold another hearing on Aug. 1.

View all comments that have been posted about this article at washingtonpost.com.

[ImmitsRom]

Great that a thread has been started to cover Pat Tillman's death ...

Starting in September 2005 I posted a number of articles on Pat in "The Fight Against Terrorism" thread.

If anyone could add those to this thread it would be appreciated.

Six of the Tillman posts can be found HERE

[oxixernibioge]

Sorry I've been remiss in keeping this thread up to date.

Pat's mother Mary Tillman appeared on 60 Minutes recently, and has written a book - the audio version of which is read by the author.



*****

"They Used Pat for Public Consumption, Just Like Jessica Lynch": An Interview with Mary Tillman

By Emily Wilson, AlterNet
Posted on May 26, 2008

After the Sept. 11 attacks, football star Pat Tillman left a multimillion-dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers, wanting to go fight Al-Qaeda. When the former NFL safety was killed in Afghanistan in April 2004, Army officials told his family he died in an enemy ambush. Five weeks later, after Tillman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, and after Army officials at a nationally televised memorial had told a story of him charging up a hill in pursuit of enemy insurgents, the Army reported that, in fact, Tillman had been shot three times in the head by "friendly fire."

Since discovering that Tillman was killed by friendly fire, his family, led by his mother, Mary, and his brother, Kevin, who served with him in the Army, has been trying to find who was responsible for covering up what happened in Pat's death. After seven investigations, two Congressional hearings, and support from politicians ranging from Democratic California Rep. Mike Honda to Republican presidential candidate John McCain to retired general Wesley Clark, Mary Tillman says no one has been held accountable.

Now, with Narda Zacchino, former deputy editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, she has written a book about Pat's life and her struggle to find out the truth about his death. The title is Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. AlterNet writer Emily Wilson sat down with her recently in San Francisco to talk about the book.

Emily Wilson: In the book you have a lot of stories about Pat as a toddler, a kid and a teenager. Why did you choose to include those?

Mary Tillman: I included the stories about Pat growing up because I felt that for the reader to care about what happened to him, they had to have a little bit of an understanding about who he was. I felt the media coverage sort of turned him into a caricature. I wanted to present him as a human being.

Emily Wilson: In four years, you have had seven investigations and two Congressional hearings. What gives you the will to keep going with this?

Mary Tillman: I think there is so much that is disturbing in the documents, the fact that they lied to us to begin with -- and you know, when you are lied to and you see discrepancies, it just makes you more concerned and confused and outraged. And at every turn we just kept finding new pieces of information that made it seem there was huge deception and cover-up. So I feel it's very important to find out who's accountable for the cover-up.

At this point I think most of the evidence is gone. It's been four years, and these soldiers (the ones who shot Tillman) are young, they were in a stress situation. I think it's horrific they were so negligent, but I think if there's some kind of consequence, it should have happened early on. I think putting them through that at this point -- I don't think Pat would have wanted that. But for these men in positions of authority and power to willfully deceive the public and cover up and use a young man for propaganda is outrageous, and I think they should be held accountable.

Emily Wilson: What has been the hardest thing about dealing with the Army?

Mary Tillman: I think the hardest thing is the officers we've been dealing with. They're very polished, they're very polite, they're very respectful. I mean their outward behavior is very respectful, but they're clearly lying. And it took us awhile to realize that this honest, earnest facade was just that; a facade. So it's been very hard to realize that these people who seem so genuine are not.

Emily Wilson: On "60 Minutes," Katie Couric asked the new secretary of the Army, Pete Geren: Who altered eyewitness statements to say Pat was killed by the enemy? He says this question can't be completely answered. What is your response to that?

Mary Tillman: In the Congressional hearing, they kept saying they couldn't know who falsified the Silver Star narrative, that they couldn't find out who was responsible for the cover-up. It's impossible, they say, to find this information out. And I just don't really believe that. I think there's a way. I just think they just don't want to trace it because it would lead to people they don't want uncovered.

Emily Wilson: You mention all the inconsistencies you have been told over the past four years. What were some of the most glaring?

Mary Tillman: Well, the original story we got with the fratricide was that the light conditions were fairly good, but that Pat and the Afghan were about 150 meters away. We were also told the AMF (Afghanistan Military Forces) soldier, the friendly Afghan who was working with the soldiers, was standing when he was shot by a sergeant who was out of the vehicle.

But then when we went to Fort Lewis for the official briefing we were told actually it was very dark, and that Pat and the Afghan soldier were much closer, and all of a sudden the soldier was not out of the vehicle and the Afghan soldier was in a prone position (lying face down on the ground). Well, the Afghan soldier was shot in the chest six to eight times -- how do you shoot someone in the chest if they're in a prone position and he's shooting over their heads on the high ground? He would have to be a contortionist. That didn't make any sense. So we knew there was some weird thing going on with the stories.

After that, when we go the autopsy and the field hospital report, they said CPR was performed on Pat, he was transferred to the ICU for continued CPR. Well, Pat essentially had no brain and he'd been bagged as KIA (Killed in Action), and he had been dead for two hours before he got to the field hospital, so the idea they would perform CPR makes absolutely no sense. They said, well, it was busy in the hospital, we didn't have a morgue, we just wrote that down. But it makes absolutely no sense.

They burned his uniform, which clearly, from the testimony, had evidence of him being hit with U.S. rounds, so what I think they did is they destroyed the uniform, making it appear as though they tried to save him. So the CPR and the transfer to ICU made it look as though he came in and they made an attempt to save him, which would give them an excuse for taking off his uniform and destroying it, since there is a protocol that all fallen soldiers should be returned to Rockville, Md., with their uniform and equipment -- especially if they suspect fratricide, suicide or execution. Clearly, Pat was a suspected fratricide from the very beginning.

Emily Wilson: You say you think the cover-up went very high up and you think it might even go to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Mary Tillman: Yes, I'm of the belief it went as high as Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld had written a letter to Pat thanking him for enlisting, so clearly he was in his radar, and then we learned at the second Congressional hearing in August that he had left his snowflake memo, which is basically a memo he dropped on someone's desk because he doesn't like to use e-mail according to everything you read. This said Pat was a very special person and they should keep an eye on him. So it would really defy reason to think the generals and the officers in the upper chain of command who clearly knew within 24 to 48 hours it was a suspected fratricide -- it would be unreasonable to think they wouldn't tell Rumsfeld.

That month was such a bad month for the military and the administration. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke that month, the same week Pat died, Fallujah was in chaos, the president's approval rating was very poor, and the most deaths in the war in Iraq were in April 2004 -- so to top that off with Pat's death being a friendly fire, if they did not tell Rumsfield, heads would have rolled. He is noted to be a micromanager, and he clearly liked having his hands on the military, especially special ops and black ops.

Emily Wilson: You say you don't think Pat's death was murder, but rather gross negligence. What are some examples of that?

Mary Tillman: First, the order that was given to split the troops was very irresponsible. This platoon was basically supposed to be checking boxes, making sure there were no insurgents in these villages. This platoon had trouble with a Humvee and they kept trying to repair it, and they couldn't, and they had to hire a local flatbed truck driver. They asked this truck driver to haul it, and the whole idea was they wanted one of the convoys to take the Humvee to get picked up by a wrecker and the other part of the convoy would go through the canyon they were supposed to be searching and then the two convoys would meet up later.

Well, the platoon leader was very disturbed by that. He was worried that because of the terrain they would lose communication. He vehemently opposed the order to split and also the order to move during daylight hours because protocol was such that they weren't supposed to do that. … This platoon leader was the first captain of his class at West Point, which is essentially the valedictorian, and he was a very bright young man. The fact that they disregarded his protest is very disturbing and questionable. A commander told us it's highly unusual the officer on the ground is disregarded like that; usually he has the last word.

We were also told the soldiers in the vehicle who killed Pat and the AMF ... were in fog of war, but from the testimonies it's clear that they were more in a lust to fight. They had already come out of the canyon, the ambush zone. Clearly they were pumped up, and they had been scared, I'm sure. I have to give them some leeway there. But no one was firing at them. They admit that in their testimonies. They said they saw waving hands, yet they fired anyway. They were firing so irresponsibly that they could have killed any number of soldiers on that ridgeline. They were shooting at buildings, which is clearly against the rules of engagement. They were shooting so irresponsibly they nearly shot the soldiers in the vehicle coming out of the canyon behind them. We feel this was an act of gross negligence that should have been addressed much more seriously, and it was not because I think it would have been too embarrassing for the Rangers.

Emily Wilson: It seems that you don't want to be considered part of the antiwar movement and to be associated with Cindy Sheehan or Code Pink.

Mary Tillman: I admire and I respect their goal, but I don't respect their tactics. I guess I should explain that a bit. At the congressional hearing, Code Pink was there. I thought they were very much a distraction and almost like they were causing a lack of focus on the issue. With Cindy Sheehan, I do admire her courage and perseverance, but some of her actions are a little too militant, and if you are preaching to the choir, that's fine, but if you're trying to get other people in your corner, it just doesn't seem to work. And it was so crucial to me to get Pat's story out that I had to be careful associating with certain factions.

Emily Wilson: What is it you would like the Army to do?

Mary Tillman: I would hope that someone of authority and power would try to find out who was responsible for the cover-up, and they should be held accountable.

One of the reasons we didn't go through the legal system was because we didn't want any monetary compensation, and also we wanted to make the system work. There are checks and balances to take care of these abuses of power. These soldiers are going and fighting for our system, and they hope the system works, and we hoped it would work for Pat. We had really high hopes last April, because they deemed there was a cover-up and we were really thinking the system is working, and then it just sort of fizzled out. So that was disappointing.

Emily Wilson: You have said that this isn't about your family, that this is about the public. Could you explain that?

Mary Tillman: Well, sure we would like to know what happened to Pat, but this is a public deception.

The reason they used Pat is so they could use him for public consumption, just like Jessica Lynch. Pat was used to dupe the public, which is outrageous. And if people don't see that, then I think it speaks to how numb we are to the deceit and deception and lies we have been subjected to the last eight years. This is a young man who gave up a tremendous amount to serve his country, and he was killed, and they tried to use him to their benefit, to their advantage. They lied to us and in lying to us made us feel like we were losing our minds, because the documents we were receiving didn't make sense. I mean, it's crazy-making behavior, and it's cruel and it's abusive. And also, Pat is not an isolated case. I think definitely the public should be outraged.

Emily Wilson is a freelance writer and teaches basic skills at City College of San Francisco.

© 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

[Civilrecordzz]

I saw the interview. Mary Tillman was very impressive. Intelligent, rational and articulate. She is genuinely offended at attempts to portray her son's death in a way that encourages ongoing support for the war even though it means admitting his death was the result of friendly fire as opposed to the story fabricated by the Pentagon about him rushing into a hail of enemy fire.

She, like her son is a hero. She certainly has my admiration and respect.

[ToifvT5S]

Another outrageous example of how the criminal Administration has subjected us to nothing but propaganda and outright lies on every detail of these "wars". One after another, just lies. Bush, Cheney et al. should be pilloried for everything they've done. Countless lives shattered, countless billlions wasted/stolen.
What a monumental disgrace these hooligans have been. And to think there's still a chance we could get another Republican elected, it's just mind boggling.

[finnmontserrat]

^^

I fully agree. I get angry with the Democratic leadership too, who upon taking office in 04 made a point of stipulating they would not pursue impeachment hearings. I suppose the real issue there was the lack of super-majority support but this administration's list of criminal activities and impeachable offenses is astounding, beginning with the the 2000 election which constituted nothing less than an overthrow of our representative democracy, a coup de tat if you will.

[Quality4Qty]

Yes. When you look at the way this whole thing was commenced in the 2000 election it's deep and frightening. Followed by the attacks and the wars, it's been one disaster after another. For years to come we'll be trying to undo the damage to the nation and to the constitution. If the Republican criminals retain power, we're basically doomed.

I want Bush and Cheney to pay for these lies. Will it ever happen, other than by act of God?
By the looks of things they will just keep getting richer. Even the deaths of people like Pat Tillman have been used for benefit. When Bush closes his eyes and pretends to pray at ceremonies, I wonder what the hell he's really thinking about.

[offemyJuccete]

Perhaps he's thinking, "I can't wait to see my real Daddy up in heaven"

The White House, when remarking on Scott McClellan's advance for his book deal, alludes to the JC GWB connection and infers that McClellan is the betraying Judas to GWB's JC:

“Ironically, in today’s dollars that amount is worth exactly 30 pieces of silver.” It all fits. To GWB's inner circle he is infallible and must be accepted as the only true one.

Something really twisted is in action here.

[P3bWjm1j]

^^

clever line.. i wonder who read it to him.

[sisuarmalmicy]

Perhaps he's thinking, "I can't wait to see my real Daddy up in heaven"

The White House, when remarking on Scott McClellan's advance for his book deal, alludes to the JC GWB connection and infers that McClellan is the betraying Judas to GWB's JC:



It all fits. To GWB's inner circle he is infallible and must be accepted as the only true one.

Something really twisted is in action here.

Does that mean he is saying the President should be Crucified?

[amotoustict]

Report: Bush administration milked untruths about Tillman, Lynch during sour times

Nick Juliano
Published: Monday July 14, 2008

The Bush administration willfully pushed fictional portrayals of Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan and Jessica Lynch's capture in Iraq to create "compelling public narratives" at times when public opinion was starting to sour on the wars, Congressional investigators have found.

The House Oversight Committee on Monday released a draft report on the sagas of Tillman and Lynch. The public did not learn that friendly fire had killed Tillman, a former NFL player, until more than a month after his death, and an apocryphal tale of Lynch bravely battling her Iraqi captors circulated for more than two months before key aspects of it were revealed to be false.

"Our nation also has an inviolate obligation to share truthful information with a soldier’s family and the American people should injury or death occur.... That standard was not met in either Corporal Tillman’s or Private Lynch’s cases," the report says.

"Neither case involved an act of omission. The misinformation was not caused by overlooking or misunderstanding relevant facts. Instead, in both cases affirmative acts created new facts that were significantly different than what the soldiers in the field knew to be true. And in both cases the fictional accounts proved to be compelling public narratives at difficult times in the war."

The committee reviewed scores of e-mails and interviewed officials at all levels of the government. When their inquiry took them inside the White House though, it was stymied by a spate of faulty memories.
The Committee’s investigation adds many new details to the Tillman story. But on the key issue of what senior officials knew, the investigation was frustrated by a near universal lack of recall. The Committee interviewed several senior officials at the White House, including Communications Director Dan Bartlett, Press Secretary Scott McClellan, and chief speechwriter Michael Gerson. Not a single one could recall when he learned about the fratricide or what he did in response.

Similarly, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the Committee: “I don’t recall when I was told and I don’t recall who told me.”

The highest-ranking official who could recall being informed about Corporal Tillman’s fratricide was former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers, who said, “I knew right at the end of April, that there was a possibility of fratricide in the Corporal Tillman death.” General Myers testified that it would have been “logical” for him to pass this information to Secretary Rumsfeld, but said “I just don't recall whether I did it or not.”Regarding Tillman's death, which came toward the beginning of President Bush's re-election campaign, the report found the White House was eager to portray the former Arizona Cardinal who joined the Army Rangers as a hero.

The apparent desire within the White House was so strong that they did not bother to even verify Tillman's death with the Pentagon before commenting, nor did Bush administration officials recognize a standard 24-hour delay the military observes before commenting on a soldiers' death to give families time to grieve privately.

Bush/Cheney campaign advisers also were eager to help with the response, the committee found.
Several high-level staff members of President Bush’s reelection campaign contacted White House officials to suggest public responses to Corporal Tillman’s death. Matthew Dowd, the campaign’s chief strategist, sent an e-mail to Mr. Bartlett, writing, “You hear about pat tilman? Potus should call his family or go to Arizona or his hometown.”

Mark McKinnon, the campaign’s media advisor, also e-mailed Mr. Bartlett, saying: “Realize President really shouldn’t do anything that he hasn’t done for any other soldier killed in the military, but certainly think he could say something about he exemplifies the ultimate in humility, heroism and sacrifice.

[Leaters]

The Bush administration willfully pushed fictional portrayals of Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan ...

... the report found the White House was eager to portray the former Arizona Cardinal who joined the Army Rangers as a hero.

The apparent desire within the White House was so strong that they did not bother to even verify Tillman's death with the Pentagon before commenting, nor did Bush administration officials recognize a standard 24-hour delay the military observes before commenting on a soldiers' death to give families time to grieve privately.

Hmmm...

Could that be because NONE of them served in the military?

Or is it becasue they're all just a bunch of A**Holes?

[jPNy2BP5]

the latter

[nd90t3sf]

Pat Tillman's Father To Army Investigator: 'F--- You... And Yours'

THE HUFFINGTON POST
By Sam Stein
August 12, 2010

There always was a dark cinematic thread to the story of Pat Tillman: the football star imbued with post-9/11 patriotism who was killed in a friendly-fire incident in the Afghan mountains and the allegations of a massive bureaucratic cover-up involving the highest levels of the U.S. Army in the wake of the tragedy.

So it wasn't terribly shocking when word broke this past winter that "The Tillman Story," a documentary film, was being purchased by the powerhouse Weinstein Company. The story, even without a director applying his artistic license to the script, obviously had many elements of a political thriller.

As the release date approaches -- the film will premiere in Los Angeles and New York on August 20 -- those elements are becoming a bit clearer and more intriguing. The Weinstein Company sent the Huffington Post two previously unseen letters written by Tillman's father at the peak of frustration with the army's investigation into his son's death. The notes, penned to Brigadier General Gary M. Jones (the man spearheading the investigation) as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee (which oversaw Jones's work), paint a picture of a man increasingly convinced that a massive conspiracy was emerging around the death of his son.

"You are a General," Tillman's father writes Jones after being presented with a briefing book of his findings. "There is no way a man like you, with your intelligence, education, military, experience, responsibilities (primarily for difficult situations), and rank... believes the conclusions reached in the March 31, 2005 Briefing Book. But your signature is on it. I assume, therefore, that you are part of this shameless bullshit. I embarrassed myself by treating you with respect [on] March 31, 2005. I thought your rank deserved it and anticipated something different from the new and improved investigation. I won't act so hypocritically if we meet again."

"In sum: **** you... and yours."

The two letters are worth a read, if only for the insight they provide into how haphazard and mismanaged (deliberately or not) the investigations were. Tillman's father comes off as emotional, for good reason. But the questions he raised -- while conspiratorial in tone -- offer compelling drama (both real life and for the upcoming movie). Take, for instance, the notion that the shooters of his son may have been blinded by the glare of the sunset.

"The shooters were always looking North or Northwest," Tillman's father writes. "Even in Afghanistan, the sun sets in the West - Southwest. How on God's green earth can you add in a "glare factor" looking away from the sun that has set? (P-16) Immediately after the sunset , facing the wrong direction (North vs. Southwest), the glare impaired their vision? Don't you need sun to have glare?"

By the spring of 2007, indeed, evidence emerged that some of Pat Tillman senior's larger fears were driven not by emotion-driven conspiracy theories but by legitimate holes in the Army's story.

READ the LETTER

Copyright © 2010 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

[somasideff]

The Tillman Story Trailer