Posted on 04/24/2007 10:52:18 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON - Pat Tillman's brother accused the military Tuesday of "intentional falsehoods" and "deliberate and careful misrepresentations" in portraying the football star's death in Afghanistan as the result of heroic engagement with the enemy instead of friendly fire.
"We believe this narrative was intended to deceive the family but more importantly the American public," Kevin Tillman told a House Government Reform and Oversight Committee hearing. "Pat's death was clearly the result of fratricide," he said, contending that the military's misstatements amounted to "fraud."
"Revealing that Pat's death was a fratricide would have been yet another political disaster in a month of political disasters ... so the truth needed to be suppressed," said Tillman, who was in a convoy behind his brother when the incident happened three years ago but didn't see it.
The committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., accused the government of inventing "sensational details and stories" about Pat Tillman's death and the 2003 rescue of Jessica Lynch, perhaps the most famous victims of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
"The government violated its most basic responsibility," said Waxman.
Lynch, then an Army private, was badly injured when her convoy was ambushed in Iraq. She was subsequently rescued by American troops from an Iraqi hospital but the tale of her ambush was changed into a story of heroism on her part.
Still hampered by her injuries, Lynch walked slowly to the witness table and took a seat alongside Tillman's family members.
"The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don't need to be told elaborate tales," Lynch said.
Kevin Tillman said his family has sought for years to get at the truth about Pat Tillman's death, and have now concluded that they were "being actively thwarted by powers that are more interested in protecting a narrative than getting at the truth and seeing justice is served."
Lawmakers questioned how high up the chain of command the information about Tillman's friendly fire death went, and whether anyone in the White House knew before Tillman's family.
"How high up did this go?" asked Waxman.
Pat Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, said she believed former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must have known. "The fact that he would have died by friendly fire and no one told Rumsfeld is ludicrous," she said.
Tillman was killed on April 22, 2004, after his Army Ranger comrades were ambushed in eastern Afghanistan. Rangers in a convoy trailing Tillman's group had just emerged from a canyon where they had been fired upon. They saw Tillman and mistakenly fired on him.
Though dozens of soldiers knew quickly that Tillman had been killed by his fellow troops, the Army said initially that he was killed by enemy gunfire when he led his team to help another group of ambushed soldiers. The family was not told until May 29, 2004, what really happened, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes.
In questioning what the White House knew, Rep. Elijah Cummings (news, bio, voting record), D-Md., cited a memo written by a top general seven days after Tillman's death warning it was "highly possible" the Army Ranger was killed by friendly fire and making clear his warning should be conveyed to the president. President Bush made no reference to the way Tillman died in a speech delivered two days after the memo was written.
A White House spokesman has said there's no indication Bush received the warning in the memo written April 29, 2004 by then-Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command.
"It's a little disingenuous to think the administration didn't know," Kevin Tillman told the committee. "That's kind of what we hoped you guys would get involved with and take a look," he said.
Mary Tillman told the committee that family members were "absolutely appalled" upon realizing the extent to which they were misled.
"We've all been betrayed ... We never thought they would use him the way they did," she said.
The Tillman family has made similar accusations against the administration and the military before, but has generally shied away from news media attention. The family had never previously appeared together and summarized their criticism and questions in such a public, comprehensive way.
"We shouldn't be allowed to have smoke screens thrown in our face," Mary Tillman said. "You're diminishing their true heroism to write these glorious tales. It's really a disservice to the nation."
"Our family will never be satisfied. We'll never have Pat back," she said. "Something really awful happened. It's your job to find out what happened to him. That's really important."
Last month the military concluded in a pair of reports that nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting Tillman's death but that there was no criminal wrongdoing in his shooting.
Tillman's death received worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Lawmakers also planned to press the Pentagon with questions still hovering over Tillman's shooting, including whether a Predator drone was flying overhead when Tillman was killed and whether it videotaped the incident. The military says no such videotape exists.
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Associated Press writer Scott Lindlaw contributed to this report from San Francisco.
That's what I'm asking. As I recall they didn't say much of anything about details. All they said was basically "killed in action in Afghanistan". That statement is not false. They did investigate, and they announced the result of the investigation.
OK... so what else were they supposed to do? Make statements denouncing Tillman as "no hero"? That would be rediculous, and untrue.
Pat Tillman was a hero. If forsaking an unusually lucrative career and joining the Army to fight an enemy that attacked his country isn't a HUGE inspiration to the kids of this nation... then nothing is. He chose to risk his life when he did not have to. He lost his life doing it.
Friendly fire is just as much a part of combat as enemy fire. It's unfortunate and you try to minimize it but it *will* happen. It's doubly unfortunate that Pat's brother can't see that. I don't deny him his pain and loss. But I think he does no service to his brother and his comrades by spouting out all this nonsense.
No problem.
Waxman's investigation is not seeking to get at the Truth. They are seeking to put the worst possible face on this incident that the facts will allow. Frankly, I don't have a hard time believing that General McChrystal's memo to Gen. Abizaid had not been seen by the President (White House) just 2 days later. I'd have been amazed if they had.
BTW, when is Jessica Lynch giving her Silver Star back?
>>>Either his brother needs to be educated regarding combat (including,unfortunately,the fact that “friendly fire” incidents *do* happen) or else he needs to be bi*chslapped for being a worthless punk.
Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002. He was in a convoy behind his brother when the incident happened, but didn’t see it.
Well said. I think that’s pretty much my own take on the situation.
I still see no sign of a sinister reason for the so called “Cover up”. In this instance I think it was more “Cover Your A—” with the Army officials who didn’t immediately admit the incident may have been friendly fire. But really, how much actual damage did the “Cover Up” do to anyone, including the family? Pat was killed heroically defending his country. His actions are not diminished by the fact Friendly Fire was involved. What does the family hope to accomplish? It was obviously not the Military Brass’ finest hour, but who’s to say they may not have been encouraged to be less than candid to enhance Pat Tillman’s honor?
What would that be, Senator? Any idea?
I was in the car at 1:00 EDT and heard the Fox radio news supplied to the station. They said his brother was saying that the Army knew he was fragged and lied to the family about how the death occurred. Fox said his brother knew that it was not the first time that his fellow Rangers had tried to take him out!!!! As soon as I got home, I started looking at articles about the brother's testimony before the Committee and I see nothing like that, so apparently, the brother is the source of the rumors, but not willing to say that under oath.
The traditional approach to friendly fire and accidents has been to tell the family a white lie to the effect that their loved one died heroically in combat. These days, some people call that a cover-up. I guess in the future, Congress will put up a law requiring the Army to tell parents that an M1 made a meat pie out of their son. There’s no two ways about it - Pat Tillman’s kin are a bunch of narcissists who can’t see the truth staring them in the face.
See my remarks in Post 67....I just can’t agree that this ranks as any major coverup. To what purpose?
Side Question: Was Kevin Tillman discharged early? If so, why?
OTOH, it’s best to keep your head down and re-establish radio contact if you know your own people are firing on you. Standing on top of a hill and yelling is ineffective. It’s a sad situation for all involved.
The story just does not add up. One week after Tillman’s death, the Army awarded him a posthumous Silver Star for gallantry in action.
I have never heard of the Silver Star go to a FF victim. One week after the incident does not give enough time to give the review required for the awarding of the Silver Star.
Actually I don’t know the purpose....seems pretty simple to me.....but then why was the Ranger that was with him ordered NOT to tell the family the truth (see current front page thread), why did they burn his uniform, clothes and even personnal armor?....Why did a recent report say there were big problems with the reporting?....don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is any criminal wrong doing here, just seems strange about all these little things adding up to something more....IMO, I’d rather be told my family member was killed by FF instead of something else
BINGO!
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Since you applauding a call for dishonesty I guess you feel that we can't handle the truth.
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You do of course know that the worthless punk you want to bitch slap was also a Ranger with two combat tours, don't you?
The truth was told. But now the Marxist Media, seditious Democrats, and the Tillman family are giving aid and comfort to the enemy by turning this into a media extravaganza.
This is like the Abu Graib story. In Abu Graib a wrong was committed. It was dealt with appropriately by the military. But the NYTIMES ran 32 FRONT PAGE STORIES IN A ROW in order to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
A LOT of smoke from the DBM and Democrats today.
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