Pat Tillman and President Bush
Here is a breaking news item about the political machinations after Pat Tillman's death. The AP article details how "just seven days after Pat Tillman's death, a top general warned there were strong indications that it was friendly fire and President Bush might embarrass himself if he said the NFL star-turned-soldier died in an ambush, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press." The article hints at a whitewash of the episode. Click the photo for the complete AP story. Also, for an excellent profile of Tillman, read Gary Smith's article, Remember His Name.
[Update: 4/20/07]
posted by gap at 4:40 PM
3 Comments:
i wrote this the other day
http://joeleonardi.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/true-american-heroes/
check it out
joe
There was a period of 37 days between the death of a high-profile Army Ranger in Afghanistan and the final disclosure of the facts surrounding his death to his family. This doesn't strike me as political machinations. The fact that he was such a high-profile individual is probably why the investigation only took 37 days.
If the Pentagon had reason to believe that the death of Pat Tillman was due to friendly fire, then it makes perfect sense that they would warn those in the government who would likely be making statements regarding his highly publicized death to take care in statements that they made regarding the circumstances surrounding the incident. At the same time, the Pentagon would not want to state to the family that he was or was not the victim of friendly fire until after all the facts were in.
The article states that, "Some of the officers involved said they wanted to wait until the investigations were complete before informing the Tillman family," and that, "The White House has been careful not to wade into the circumstances of Tillman's death. The day after Tillman died, a spokesman said Tillman 'was an inspiration on and off the football field,' but made no reference to the specifics of the episode.
"In a speech given two days after McChrystal's memo, Bush made no mention of how Tillman died."
So, some of the officers involved wanted to wait until all of the facts were in before trying to explain to Tillman's family what had happened; and before and after McChrystal's memo, the administration made no reference to the specifics of how Corporal Tillman died.
The Pentagon gave high-level officers and the administration the heads-up that this was possibly a friendly fire incident, but they didn't notify the family until after the investigation was complete. This is a non-issue.
A quick note to usmc9771: You may personally believe this is a non-issue, and you have the right to live in denial. But the family of Pat Tillman seems to think they were lied to deliberately and much of the American Public seems to think that the "facts" in the case were altered to make Tillman fit into the mold of what the current administration wants to call a "hero."
Blind loyalty can be nice, but objectivity and honesty seem to always work better. You should try them some time.
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