csua.org/u/c5u -> www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200865.html
More Tillman's Parents Are Critical Of Army Family Questions Reversal On Cause of Ranger's Death By Josh White Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, May 23, 2005; Page A01 Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, s aying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire de ath in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss. More than a year after their son was shot several times by his fellow Arm y Rangers on a craggy hillside near the Pakistani border, Tillman's moth er and father said in interviews that they believe the military and the government created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a pa triotic response across the country. They say the Army's "lies" about wh at happened have made them suspicious, and that they are certain they wi ll never get the full story. Pat Tillman was killed by his comrades on April 22, 2004. Pat Tillman was killed by his comrades on April 22, 2004.
White on Tillman Investigation The Washington Post's Josh White discusses Pat Tillman's parents' reactio n to the investigation process into their son's friendly-fire death in A fghanistan.
that's why he did what he did," M ary Tillman said in her first lengthy interview since her son's death. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he wa tched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The f act that they lied about it afterward is disgusting." Tillman, a popular player for the Arizona Cardinals, gave up stardom in t he National Football League after the Sept. After a tour in Iraq, their u nit was sent to Afghanistan in spring 2004, where they were to hunt for the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Shortly after arriving in the mountains to fight, Tillman was killed in a barrage of gunfire from his own men, mistaken for the enemy as he got into position to defend them. Immediately, the Army kept the soldiers on the ground quiet and told Till man's family and the public that he was killed by enemy fire while storm ing a hill, barking orders to his fellow Rangers. After a public memoria l service, at which Tillman received the Silver Star, the Army told Till man's family what had really happened, that he had been killed by his ow n men. In separate interviews in their home town of San Jose and by telephone, T illman's parents, who are divorced, spoke about their ordeal with the Ar my with simmering frustration and anger. A series of military investigat ions have offered differing accounts of Tillman's death. The most recent report revealed more deeply the confusion and disarray surrounding the mission he was on, and more clearly showed that the family had been kept in the dark about details of his death. The latest investigation, written about by The Washington Post earlier th is month, showed that soldiers in Afghanistan knew almost immediately th at they had killed Tillman by mistake in what they believed was a firefi ght with enemies on a tight canyon road. The investigation also revealed that soldiers later burned Tillman's uniform and body armor. That information was slow to make it back to the United States, the repor t said, and Army officials here were unaware that his death on April 22, 2004, was fratricide when they notified the family that Tillman had bee n shot. Over the next 10 days, however, top-ranking Army officials -- including t he theater commander, Army Gen. John P Abizaid -- were told of the repo rts that Tillman had been killed by his own men, the investigation said. But the Army waited until a formal investigation was finished before te lling the family -- which was weeks after a nationally televised memoria l service that honored Tillman on May 3, 2004. He decried what he calls a "botched hom icide investigation" and blames high-ranking Army officers for presentin g "outright lies" to the family and to the public. "After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this," Patrick Tillman said. "They purposely interfe red with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought the y could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got ou t They blew up their poster boy." Army spokesmen maintain that the Army has done everything it can to keep the family informed about the investigation, offering to answer relative s' questions and going back to them as investigators gathered more infor mation.
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