Report: Army knew Tillman died from friendly fire

WASHINGTON (AP) — Army officials knew within days of Pat Tillman's death that the former NFL player had been killed by fellow Rangers during a patrol in Afghanistan but did not inform his family and the public for weeks, The Washington Post reported.

A new Army report shows that Gen. John P. Abizaid, the theater commander in Afghanistan, and other top Army officials were aware an investigation had determined the death was caused by an act of "gross negligence" four days before a nationally televised memorial service, the Post reported after reviewing nearly 2,000 pages of documents it had obtained.

Tillman, 27, turned down a multimillion-dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was taking cover behind a boulder along a canyon road near the Pakistani border when a firefight erupted at twilight on April 22, 2004.

The Post reported on its online edition Tuesday night that troops on the scene said they were immediately sure Tillman was killed by a barrage of American bullets.

The documents show that officers erroneously reported that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence and initially concealed the truth from his brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack, the Post reported.

The memorial service in San Jose, Calif., took place May 3, 2004. The Army announced May 29 that Tillman likely died because of friendly fire.

Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones, who prepared the report, concluded there was no official reluctance to report the truth.

...Right


I've been a bit reluctant to speak on each and every issus that comes up from the war. I have gotten to the point that it is wasted effort. Either you think we were absolutely right or absolutely wrong . There is no middle ground on this anyone who knows me knows my political views on the Afghan and Iraqi wars. The fact I view them as two different wars tells you how I feel about it.

I'm no cat in a tinfoil hat but...



Do the people that run this show really expect us (well expect me) to believe that they didn't have an excellent PR story in Mr. Tillman and if certain "inconsequential" details were omitted that just HAPPENED benefit the administration’s position at a time where the mood in America was leaning against the tide of the Iraq war? A war, which the administration made pains to insure to the American people knew was the same war.

I'm no negative nancy...



You are going to have to feed me a few more freedom fries before you get me to believe that there was no attempt to deceive the American public and more importantly the Tilman family. I mean I'm not upset that he was killed due to friendly fire. War is ugly business and in the fog of war the body will react before the mind. It is a risk everyone fighting the war has to deal with. He died doing his job.

What does upset me is the fact that there is a has been a consistent movement in my government to deceive the American people and then once these individuals are caught with their hands in the cookie jar with crumbs all over their mouths they have this no harm no foul attitude and the American people just go back to living in ignorance.

They spend more time trying to figure out if Angelina Jole can fuck Brad Pitt or how many kids Michael Jackson can jack-off with 6 pills, 1 bottle of wine, and one hand tied behind his back, or if some dork should really marry a woman who ran off to "get it together" until she ran out of cash that is or how funny Laura Bush is (HA HA HA you are such a comedian thank goodness your approval ratings are double that of your husband's or we wouldn't know who to put up there. Laura you are hot keep this up and you could be the next Lenny Bruce).

Maybe it's my belief system that makes scoffs at tradition or giving passes to people in power just because they are in power. I don't know. Why is our government so afraid to give us the truth? It's like the people in office don't trust their own people to process information and come up with a rational reaction. I mean we elected them to office I can't see why they don't trust us. Or maybe I do.