SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just seven days after Pat Tillman's death, a top general warned there were strong indications that the NFL star-turned-soldier did not die in an ambush in Afghanistan, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. But it was not until a month afterward that the Pentagon told the public and grieving family members the truth — that Tillman was mistakenly killed in Afghanistan by his comrades.
The memo reinforces suspicions that the Pentagon was more concerned with sparing officials from embarrassment than with leveling with Tillman's family.
In a memo sent to a four-star general a week after Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, then-Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that it was "highly possible" the Army Ranger was killed by friendly fire. McChrystal made it clear his warning should be conveyed to President Bush.
"I felt that it was essential that you received this information as soon as we detected it in order to preclude any unknowing statements by our country's leaders which might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Cpl. Tillman's death become public," McChrystal wrote on April 29, 2004, to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command.
White House spokesman Blain Rethmeier said Friday that a review of records turned up no indication that the president had received McChrystal's warning. Bush made no reference to the way Tillman died in a speech delivered two days after the memo was written. But Rethmeier emphasized that the president often pays tribute to fallen soldiers without mentioning the exact circumstances of their deaths.
The family was not told until May 29, 2004, what really happened. In the intervening weeks, the military continued to say Tillman died under enemy fire, and even awarded him the Silver Star, which is given for heroic battlefield action.
The Tillman family has charged that the military and the Bush administration deliberately deceived his relatives and the nation to avoid turning public opinion against the war.
Tillman's mother, Mary, had no immediate comment Friday on the newly disclosed memo.
Pat Tillman was killed on April 22, 2004. It doesn't bother me that both the Pentagon and the Bush White House used Tillman's death for the political purpose of selling their war in Iraq to the American people, or even to try to stifle criticism of that war. Politicians will use their own military service records, or even other military heroes to advance their political goals. What bothers me here is that the Pentagon believed that the cause of Tillman's death was a potential political liability to the Bush White House, to the point of where this Major General McChrystal sent this memo to General Abizaid, warning Abizaid that the Bush administration could become embarrassed in presenting misleading statements regarding Tillman's death. What are they going to say--that Tillman was the ultimate "Rambo" hero, standing tall with his M60 machine gun, blasting those evil terrorists away, sacrificing his own life to save his fellow Army Rangers, and protecting the good old US of A? It bothers me that the Pentagon was more concerned about President Bush making an embarrassing remark, than about actually telling the truth about the events surrounding Tillman's death. McChrystal pretty much knew a week after Tillman's death that Tillman was killed by friendly fire. And yet, the Pentagon waited for a month before telling Tillman's family the truth of Tillman's death. The Pentagon should have just told the truth right away, rather than playing CYA politics. Because with the release of this memo, we've got a whole new scandal, where top Pentagon officials seemed more concern about protecting their own asses, rather than doing their jobs. Who else knew of this memo? Who else read this memo? And are we to accept the Bush administration's claims that the president never received McChrystal's memo and the warning, considering the constant lies this administration has told the American public regarding faulty Iraqi intelligence, the Valerie Plame scandal, the attorney purge scandal, or even all the delusional talk of how the U.S. is still winning in Iraq?
Another scandal....
No comments:
Post a Comment