Irrelevant. The Administration for some stupid reason covered this up. As Michael Smerconish said, how is death by friendly fire any less heroic than death in combat? It is not. Pat Tillman was a great hero, and shame on the Pentagon for trying to script his death for P.R. purposes--and that when it wasn't even necessary!
I don’t agree that my statement is irrelevant to the times. The only purpose all of this has in the public forum is to fan the flames of anti-Bush BS that has preoccupied the liberals in this country since his election in 2000.
I also would ask for any evidence that exists which directly implicates the Bush Administration in the cover-up of how Tillman died. The Pentagon is not the Bush Administration, but a Government agency tasked with specific actions during war time. Their actions and behaviors regarding how Tillman’s death was initially reported was reprehensible to say the least. And, as you said, it does not lessen his heroism in the field.
No they didn't.
It took them 37 days to issue an official report which, given the enormously high profile the media had given the incident by then, may well have been justified.
I cannot believe all of the posters on this thread who support lying to this family.
This was not a white lie told to protect an investigation or calm a potentially volatile brother.
The Army spun an entire set of lies that hid the truth about Tillman’s death and on top of that they developed a false scenario to try to turn his death into a dramatic, heroic act to use him as a poster boy. His leavine a lucrative career was heroic. His volunteering for the Rangers and combat was heroic. Then they saw his death as an opportunity- ghoulish.
They hurt this family and the realization by the American people of what happened has weakened the war effort.
If you are a family in Iowa, listening to a military officer describe how and why your son is not coming home, how many mothers and fathers are going to doubt the story. How many, now have a tiny grain of doubt, “If they lied to the family of Pat Tillman, how can I know that they are not lying to me?”