A Sign of Disrespect

From the Washington Post:

(Excerpts)

Tillman’s parents lash out at Army
Handling of Ranger’s death called a ‘sign of disrespect’

By Josh White
The Washington Post
Updated: 1:28 a.m. ET May 23, 2005

Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death 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 Army Rangers on a craggy hillside near the Pakistani border, Tillman's mother 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 patriotic response across the country. They say the Army's "lies" about what happened have made them suspicious, and that they are certain they will never get the full story.

‘A sign of disrespect’

"Pat had high ideals about the country; that's why he did what he did," Mary Tillman said in her first lengthy interview since her son's death. "The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting."

‘They blew up their poster boy’

Patrick Tillman Sr., a San Jose lawyer, said he is furious about what he found in the volumes of witness statements and investigative documents the Army has given to the family. He decried what he calls a "botched homicide investigation" and blames high-ranking Army officers for presenting "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 interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they 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 out. They blew up their poster boy."

Army expresses ‘heartfelt sorrow’

Army spokesmen maintain that the Army has done everything it can to keep the family informed about the investigation, offering to answer relatives' questions and going back to them as investigators gathered more information.

Army officials said Friday that the Army "reaffirms its heartfelt sorrow to the Tillman family and all families who have lost loved ones during this war." Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, an Army spokesman, said the Army acts with compassion and heartfelt commitment when informing grieving families, often a painful duty.

"In the case of the death of Corporal Patrick Tillman, the Army made mistakes in reporting the circumstances of his death to the family," Brooks said. "For these, we apologize. We cannot undo those early mistakes."

Brooks said the Army has "actively and directly" informed the Tillman family regarding investigations into his death and has dedicated a team of soldiers and civilians to answering the family's questions through phone calls and personal meetings while ensuring the family "was as well informed as they could be."

...Patrick Tillman Sr. believes he will never get the truth, and he says he is resigned to that now. But he wants everyone in the chain of command, from Tillman's direct supervisors to the one-star general who conducted the latest investigation, to face discipline for "dishonorable acts." He also said the soldiers who killed his son have not been adequately punished.
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My heart breaks for the Tillmans' loss of their beloved son. The confusion about the circumstances of his death, the false information they received, would certainly add to their grief and arouse anger.

If the Army did indeed withhold information from the family and the public because it would have made for bad press, that is truly despicable.

At this point, however, White does not deliver any proof that the Army intentionally misled Tillman's family and the nation. He writes that witness statements and investigative documents infuriated Mr. Tillman, but he did not give any details about the nature of that information.

Obviously, Mr. Tillman is deeply troubled, characterizing events as a "botched homicide investigation." I understand his despair and sympathize with his frustration about the initial inaccurate account of his son's death. I don't mean to be insensitive to his pain; but to call the tragedy of a friendly fire incident "homicide" seems a bit extreme.

Mr. Tillman is saying that Pat's fellow Army Rangers committed a crime. If they sought to murder Pat, then Mr. Tillman is justified in using the term. If there is no proof that the men Pat served with intended to kill him, then Mr. Tillman is putting out the sort of lies that he has accused the Army and the administration of doing. Such rhetoric distorts the truth. As a lawyer, he should know better than to throw around the term "homicide".

The men who served with Pat deserve better.

Given the MSM's propensity to jump all over stories that cast a dark shadow over the military and the Bush administration, I'm not surprised by the Post's eagerness to use the Tillmans' loss and suffering to further their anti-Bush, anti-military, anti-Iraq agenda.

You'd need a heart of stone to dismiss the pain of the Tillmans. Moreover, the possibility that information on Pat's death was withheld is disturbing and should be investigated for purposeful wrong-doing. Still, in the name of balance, the Post might consider talking to the "murderers" that fought side by side with Pat Tillman and present their accounts.

I'd be interested to know if any of them would characterize what happened to Pat as homicide.