Pat Tillman's Parents Accuse General Of Covering Up Circumstances Of His Death

WASHINGTON — The parents of slain Army Ranger and NFL star Pat Tillman voiced concerns Tuesday that the general who played a role in mischaracterizing his death could be put in charge of military operations in Afghanistan.

In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Pat Tillman Sr. accused Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal of covering up the circumstances of the 2004 slaying.

"I do believe that guy participated in a falsified homicide investigation," Pat Tillman Sr. said.

Separately, Mary Tillman called it "imperative" that McChrystal's record be carefully considered before he is confirmed.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has complete confidence in McChrystal, whom he hopes can be confirmed by the Senate before month's end.

"We feel terrible for what the Tillman family went through, but this matter has been investigated thoroughly by the Pentagon, by the Congress, by outside experts, and all of them have come to the same conclusion: that there was no wrongdoing by Gen. McChrystal," Morrell said.

Aides to the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will consider the nomination, said they were unaware of any opposition to McChrystal.

McChrystal, a former "black ops" special forces chief credited with nabbing one of the most-wanted fugitives in Iraq, was tapped Monday to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Gen. David McKiernan, who was fired in an unusual wartime shake-up.

In April 2004, McChrystal approved paperwork awarding Tillman a Silver Star after he was killed by enemy fire _ even though he suspected the Ranger had died by fratricide, according to Pentagon testimony later obtained by the AP.

The testimony showed that McChrystal sent a memo to top generals imploring "our nation's leaders," specifically the president, to avoid cribbing the "devastating enemy fire" explanation from the award citation for their speeches. In 2007, the Army overruled a Pentagon recommendation that McChrystal be held accountable for his "misleading" actions.

In a book published last year, Mary Tillman accused McChrystal of helping create the false story line that she said "diminished Pat's true actions."

Her one-sentence e-mail to the AP on Tuesday said: "It is imperative that Lt. General McChrystal be scrutinized carefully during the Senate hearings."

Last year, however, the Senate unanimously approved promoting McChrystal from a two-star general to a three-star general as director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

Similarly, this time around, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., "does not foresee any problems with Gen. McChrystal's confirmation" with the committee, a Levin aide said Tuesday.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the committee's top Republican, backs the decision to change leadership in Afghanistan and will support McChrystal's nomination, said Brooke Buchanan, a McCain spokeswoman.

McCain was highly critical of the Army's handling of the Tillman investigation, and in April 2007 he called the service's actions "inexcusable and unconscionable."

Comments

[mollysgran]

02:49 PM on 05/13/2009

I am totally with Pat Tillman's parents. I am sure we do not have the correct facts---yet.

[dan-o]

02:03 PM on 05/13/2009

I hate to tell all of you arm chair generals this but friendly fire incidents do happen in war. My combat experience is following about 10 kilometers behind the line of advance in the Persian Gulf War as a National Guardsman. That gave me no exposure to actual combat except for seeing the end results. In WW II I've read that there were up to 30,000 friendly fire deaths. In the Persian Gulf War it is estimated to be 35 out of 345 deaths.

I feel for Pat Tillmans parents but every soldier knows that friendly fire incidents do happen and we were repeatedly warned to watch out for our own. I don't know if it was stressed so much because we were just a bunch of weekend warrior engineers or what. But no matter how much it was stressed friendly fire deaths happen as situations get confused. I don't know why the men in his unit and chain of command tried to cover up but maybe it was to make his family not think his life was wasted. My grandfather fought his way across the Pacific and I asked him about this after I came home. He told me that he knew men who died by U.S. Naval fire or accidental shootings. One man died when he shot himself while cleaning his .45. It was written up as a combat death because they didn't want the family to see that his life was wasted.

[madashellvoter]

03:08 PM on 05/13/2009

Friendly fire is one thing one, but what IF it was a homicide? I read several stories that came back to the Tillman family that he wasn't as liked as people in the States think. Pat, wasn't the kind of guy that would fire first and ask questions after.

[AlexNYC]

03:59 PM on 05/13/2009

But Pat Tillman's death was fratricide, and potentially murder. The physicial evidence was burned and destroyed, and a phony story that Pat was ambushed by the enemy was concocted by the military brass. Three bullet holes within an inch of each other in Pat's forehead from a distance of 100 feet from a moving jeep is not a realistic story. More likely he was shot at near point blank range by someone out to get him. Doesn't like like "friendly fire" to me.

[Marmann]

02:01 PM on 05/13/2009

This was all investigated under the very tainted BUSH administration, where truth was discouraged if not outright outlawed.

A new investigation is definitely warranted.

[alfrede]

01:29 PM on 05/13/2009

Did we ever find out the chain of command from PVT Lynndie England and SGT Charles Granier to the President of the United States???

[stargazer13]

01:39 PM on 05/13/2009

yes it leads back to Cheney,s office and lawyers as well as Bushes people

crimes against humanity torture war crimes lying to go to war stealing the counties wealth killing innocents = death destruction broken hearts broken lives and broken nations = broken spirit

[Fenno]

01:29 PM on 05/13/2009

Pat Tillman was an excellent example of a great American. He voluntarily stepped away from an NFL paycheck to put himself in the middle of someone else's war. He was also a devout Atheist, something that rarely gets brought up when he is discussed.

I wonder why?

[ICorpsDoc]

12:51 PM on 05/13/2009

And this 'the parents need to know how their kid died in combat"?

Trust me they do not want to know the details.

They want to know that the kid died doing something positive. That he died doing his duty. That he died fighting the enemy. And most of all that he died clean and quick.

Your son would be alive if he or someone else had not screwed up is not what the parents want to or need to hear. And many times they are not told that. Is that the right thing to not tell them? Its not a right or a wrong for me...its just an....is.
its what at times happens.

You can't handle the truth is more than just a line in a movie.

[Okieborn]

12:37 PM on 05/13/2009

What about the non- famous soldiers who are murdered and nothing is ever said !!

[wyldthings]

01:54 PM on 05/13/2009

Okieborn, How is this murder? Get into an hour long firefight and then tell me how much you remember and comprehend.

[Mnemanth]

11:52 AM on 05/13/2009

How about a little outrage for the rest of the friendly fire incidents going on over there. I'm sick of hearing of Tillman, like he's someone special. Represent him as the poster child for all that's wrong with these so-called "commanders" and their little "war", but stop making it out like he's some special case. If only the families and friends of all our dead had big money to spend on PR and political muscle.

[stargazer13]

12:52 PM on 05/13/2009

your disgust for your fellow man is oozing might want to check that wound of your

why the cover up why ! do people cover things only to hide things so why hide

Oh the tangled webs we weave when at first we practice too deceive

what you should be asking is why your armed forces are deceiving you about a soldiers death

[Lucille]

01:10 PM on 05/13/2009

To Mnemanth,

Yes there are plenty of other cases that should be looked at too. Another poster had mentioned a young Black woman's case, I'm sorry to have forgotten her name, whose father is a physician and he reviewed and the pictures of his dead child’s body as well as the medical evidence and it revealed that his daughter and been brutally raped and murdered. As I recall I believe the military said she had killed herself. Now the military is claiming it was not official military personal that committed this crime, rather it was mercenaries so of which were hired by the Bush Administration to go into Iraq.

I know that the Obama Administration frowns upon looking back and wants to continue forward on many issues, but all the cases of "friendly fire" or whatever they are terming it now should be investigated and criminals prosecuted.

Pat Tillman's name can and should be used as a flashpoint that can get justice for many of the individuals who died under suspicious circumstances as he did; that way is death is not in vain.

[loki]

11:36 AM on 05/13/2009

If he had not been a famous jock, none of this would have ever happened. I feel more sorry for all the non famous people who lost their lives in this horrible invasion that Bush started.

[stargazer13]

12:53 PM on 05/13/2009

Thank God He was Famous

or the story would have never gotten out

[livesimply]

01:00 PM on 05/13/2009

Exactly.

[Dorian]

11:13 AM on 05/13/2009

Whatever happened to "the buck stops here". This guy was in charge when Pat Tillman was killed and he let the Bush administration turn the whole thing into a fiasco. Surely Obama can find someone else to lead the troops in Afghanistan.

[whatthel]

11:02 AM on 05/13/2009

The investigation into Tillman's death has been a disgrace.

[Orlando]

10:49 AM on 05/13/2009

Shot in the forehead at 10 yards and then they make up a story about a firefight, burn his uniform and diary and try to hand off a silver star to the family to appease them with a fairy tale ending?

I can't beleive that this family is expecting an honest investigation or any shade of morality from a group of people that kill for a living.

This is a sad story of how the military uses the youth of this country. Once their poster boy was exposed to the crimes they commit and woke up, they had to get rid of him.

[ladydragon]

11:34 AM on 05/13/2009

Thank you Orlando
The Administration's biggest crime is how they used PFC Tillman's image. They sent him over there, made him the "Face of America" and then pit him against his peers. You mentioned all those things that I failed to discuss, the burning of his clothing and belongings to "cover up" the crime. What happened to PFC Tillman was a tradedy, and I am so sorry that his family will never know exactly what happened because if they do, someone at the top will have to answer for that.

[doubtingdavid]

01:15 PM on 05/13/2009

Paranoid much, it ,ust be time for you to take your meds.

[stargazer13]

01:29 PM on 05/13/2009

those who accuse are usually guilty of said offense

[madashellvoter]

03:15 PM on 05/13/2009

I have read the same artical that Orlando as read. It's kinda of sad and shocking at the same tiem. There is a COVER-UP no doupt about it. The story keeps changing, the last time that happened we wound up in Iraq!

[ICorpsDoc]

10:38 AM on 05/13/2009

You get your coffee and muffins. You sit in front of your computer. Well fed. Well rested. Alert. And you read. Maybe 5 or 6 articles and blogs. Then you connect the dots. Then you know exactly what happened and why to Pat Tillman. Its so easy that way.

Cripe you never even have to get dirty.

In reality nothing is louder, more confusing, and more terror filled that an on going fire fight.

The confusion is so over the top. Things happen. Through poor training, poor decisions, fear, or just bad sight lines and worse communications.

While I do not recommend reading as a way to become an expert on these things I do consider it a much safer way to get your information. A poor way but a much safer and easier way.

[Pilate]

10:53 AM on 05/13/2009

He was shot from ten feet and nobody else got a scratch. There was no firefight.

[PunKinPai]

12:06 PM on 05/13/2009

If the military and his commanding officer had explained it this way and, more importantly, been honest about it in the first place, there would be no need for an investigation now. If Tillman's death were simply a result of combat terror and confusion, why did they burn his clothing and diary? Why did they lie to the world and the Tillman family about the circumstances of his death? In your experience, is it possible to shoot a fellow soldier in the forehead at 10 yards, and if so, why does it not happen more frequently?

One of two scenarios is true here: 1) a criminal act occurred and was covered up, or 2) a tragic accident happened and was covered up. Neither is acceptable.

[ICorpsDoc]

12:35 PM on 05/13/2009

I would never be of the camp that thought that the military would never lie to protect itself or its image. But then I would say the same thing about Harvard, GE, GM, the Dept of Energy, and the Church. In fact any large organization.

People make poor decisions. They make decisions on bad or spotty information.

And yes they might just overlook a friendly fire incident. They in fact might give the KIA a Silver Star they had not earned. They might overlook an incidence of cowardness where the KIA was shot in the back running away. I have no doubt this type of thing goes back as far as men first going to war.

But that there was a hit team of Army Rangers : ) That had standing orders to take out one of their own.Because he disagreed with the war and read strange books is beyond silly. And it makes those who spout this drivel look like silly version of Mike Steele.

So the General passes the hit on to the Col. The Col passes on to the Capt . The entire Team has to be in on it. And at the right moment during a confusing fire fight the hit on Pat is made.

And no one in the chain or on that team every comes forward to confirm that hit.

Just who do you think Army Rangers are? Delta ? MARSOC boys? Experienced SEALs. Not all that close.

The sillyness on this thread .

[ladydragon]

10:36 AM on 05/13/2009

Pat Tillman's family will never know exactly what happened to their loved one. The previous Administration used Pat Tillman's image as a propaganda tool same as they did PFC Jessica (last name?) which is white, blond, young, strong. The Bush Administration used that young girl for everything she was worth, they lied about how she was actually found, lied about her injuries, lied about everything, she benefitted from their lies, received a hero's welcome from her town, got a book deal, her parents home was remodeled to suit her broken left foot. they lied until she got tired of them lying and threatened to come forward; and somehow she was silenced and America has never heard from her again. They lied about who actually found Saddam in that rat hole, they lied about the firefighters who survived under the rubble at the World Trade Center, they lied about not knowing that America was going to be attacked...he knew! he was told. if anyone posting here has served in the military, I was in the Army from 1979-1985, you KNOW what happened to PFC Tillman over there, just look at the image that was created for him, You know. His family will NEVER get the whole truth.

[Mnemanth]

11:54 AM on 05/13/2009

Lynch. Yes, another propaganda mess that, sadly, has largely been forgotten. Funny how that worked out.

[Lucille]

10:28 AM on 05/13/2009

Thank God Pat Tillman's parents are on the ball and making hay about Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's potential appointment to lead NATO and American troops anywhere. Lt. Gen McChrystal falsified documents to cover up a murder that's a fact, that fact that he was not punished or held responsible for his part in the cover-up is completely relevant to the current issue at hand. As a American citizen I wonder about what else he knows about Pat Tillman's death and what else is this man capable of?

[JoJoRae]

02:56 PM on 05/13/2009

You are wrong and you have confused McChrystal with Kensinger. The only thing McChrystal was questioned about was the memo he sent out telling people to stop talking about Tillman's death to the public becuase the investigation was not done yet and there were question's regarding wether or not he was killed as a result of friendly fire and later he signed off on the Silver Star Tillman may not have earned, which is rather silly because the military awards process is borked beyond belief. (I know a guy who got a Silver Star he nominated himself for with only his company commader signing off on and the rest of unit saying he did not deserve it.) He was never accused of falsifying documents.

Yes Tillman's death was used by the previous administration to distract the country from Abu Grhaib, that can be easily seen by the giant televised funeral. Do you really thing death from friendly fire is that rare? This is a horrible case and some people misued it, but sadly it is not that rare, more US soldiers were killed by friendly fire in the first Gulf War than by the enemy. So many people on this thread are calling members of the military murderers, thieves and so many horrible things without real knowledge of the situation. But how many of you can name another single soldier killed in either of the current wars? How many of you have been to military funeral since 9/11?