[HawaiianGecko]

The official story is plainly a lie, Tillman did not die fighting the enemy.

The official story is that Tillman died in a friendly fire accident and this has been their position since May of 2004. 

The narrative supporting the award of his citation was fabricated, Tillman did not die fighting the enemy. The Navy Seal who gave his eulogy at the public memorial service testified that the words that he had spoken were not true.

None of the investigations into the death of Cpl Tillman ever stated anything other than fratricide. From the DOD's I.G. Report:

Memorandum For Acting Secretary of the Army: Subject: Review of matters related to the Death of Corporal Patrick Tillman, U.S. Army.

None of CPL Tillman's superiors complied with these requirements. Instead, after clear evidence of fratricide emerged the day following the incident, CPL Tillman's battalion commander (a lieutenant colonel three levels below the Combatant Commander), with the concurrence of his regimental commander, appointed a subordinate Army captain to investigate.  That investigation, completed in about 2 weeks, determined CPL Tillman's death was fratricide caused by leadership failures and tactical errors.

That was the 1st thorough investigation.

The second one, instigated due to dissatisfaction with the thoroughness of the first one:

CPL Tillman's regimental commander (a colonel) ordered his own executive officer (a lieutenant colonel) to conduct a second investigation. That investigation, building upon the first, was completed in 9 days, confirmed death by friendly fire, and provided expanded findings on the contributing tactical errors.

http://www.defenselink.mil/home/pdf/Tillman_Redacted_Web_0307.pdf

NEXT:

The scope of our review included interviews of over 100 witnesses and over 20,000 staff hours. As we'll discuss in greater detail, there were three sequential Army Regulation 15-6 investigations into the death of Corporal Tillman. The investigations occurred at the battalion, regimental and command level. 

 

                As a preliminary matter, we concluded that despite shortcomings, each investigation established the basic facts for Corporal Tillman's death, that it was caused by friendly fire; that the occupants of one vehicle in Corporal Tillman's platoon were responsible; and that circumstances on the ground at the time caused those occupants to misidentify friendly forces as hostile. 

 

                None of the investigations suggested Corporal Tillman's death was other than accidental. Our review as well as the investigation just briefed to you by the Army CID reveal no evidence contrary to those findings. 

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3917
Presenter: Thomas Gimble, DoD Acting Inspector General; Brigadier General, Rodney Johnson, Commander, U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command; Pete Geren, Acting Secretary Of The Army; General Richard Cody, Army Vice Chief Of Staff

News report the day of Tillman's death:
Ex-NFL player Tillman dies during military action in Afghanistan
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2004-04-23-tillman_x.htm

From staff and wire reports

Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety who left football to become an Army Ranger, was killed in southeastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.

Although the military had not officially confirmed his death, the White House put out a statement of sympathy that praised Tillman as "an inspiration both on and off the football field."

Lt. Col. Matt Beevers, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul, confirmed that a U.S. soldier was killed Thursday evening, but would not say whether it was Tillman. A military official at the Pentagon confirmed it was Tillman.

Beevers said the soldier died after a firefight with anti-coalition militia forces about 25 miles southwest of a U.S. military base at Khost, which has been the scene of frequent attacks.

Two other U.S. soldiers on the combat patrol were injured, and an Afghan soldier fighting alongside the Americans was killed. Notice the section that says: Beevers said the soldier died after a firefight with anti-coalition militia forces  This is correct!  They had just been in a firefight (see IG report) minutes before.  That's why one of their vehicles was disabled. The military told the truth. The press may have stretched it a bit.




In short the government never said it was anything other than fratricide. The official story has always been fratricide. So who's the one lying?

I watched the entire hearing on C-Span today, every moment of it.  The Inspector General clearly differed with Waxman and said there is no evidence of a cover up, period, the end.

[berstbubble]

I fully agree that there is no official cover-up, no crime and no one to blame. It does appear, however, that some pencil pusher somewhere tried to turn the Tillman story and seemingly the Jessica Lynch story into some Hollywood recruitment poster story- maybe to help encourage support for the war or for some other reason.

For good or ill, in Tillman’s case, the family got hurt and I believe that we owe it to all of the families of our soldiers to give them better.

Tillman was obviously a hero- no question, but the way this was handled gives the enemy, foreign and domestic, an opportunity to smear the war effort while claiming to be advocates for the family. That is why this is so injurious.