Posted on 07/26/2007 5:35:18 PM PDT by leadpenny
33 minutes ago
SAN FRANCISCO - Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.
The doctors — whose names were blacked out — said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.
Ultimately, the Pentagon did conduct a criminal investigation, and asked Tillman's comrades whether he was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed. The Pentagon eventually ruled that Tillman's death at the hands of his comrades was a friendly-fire accident.
The medical examiners' suspicions were outlined in 2,300 pages of testimony released to the AP this week by the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Among other information contained in the documents:
• In his last words moments before he was killed, Tillman snapped at a panicky comrade under fire to shut up and stop "sniveling."
• Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.
• The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman's death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn't recall details of his actions.
• No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene — no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.
The Pentagon and the Bush administration have been criticized in recent months for lying about the circumstances of Tillman's death. The military initially told the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by enemy fire. Only weeks later did the Pentagon acknowledge he was gunned down by fellow Rangers.
With questions lingering about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached, Congress is preparing for yet another hearing next week.
The Pentagon is separately preparing a new round of punishments, including a stinging demotion of retired Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., 60, according to military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the punishments under consideration have not been made public.
In more than four hours of questioning by the Pentagon inspector general's office in December 2006, Kensinger repeatedly contradicted other officers' testimony, and sometimes his own. He said on some 70 occasions that he did not recall something.
At one point, he said: "You've got me really scared about my brain right now. I'm really having a problem."
Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, who has long suggested that her son was deliberately killed by his comrades, said she is still looking for answers and looks forward to the congressional hearings next week.
"Nothing is going to bring Pat back. It's about justice for Pat and justice for other soldiers. The nation has been deceived," she said.
The documents show that a doctor who autopsied Tillman's body was suspicious of the three gunshot wounds to the forehead. The doctor said he took the unusual step of calling the Army's Human Resources Command and was rebuffed. He then asked an official at the Army's Criminal Investigation Division if the CID would consider opening a criminal case.
"He said he talked to his higher headquarters and they had said no," the doctor testified.
Also according to the documents, investigators pressed officers and soldiers on a question Mrs. Tillman has been asking all along.
"Have you, at any time since this incident occurred back on April 22, 2004, have you ever received any information even rumor that Cpl. Tillman was killed by anybody within his own unit intentionally?" an investigator asked then-Capt. Richard Scott.
Scott, and others who were asked, said they were certain the shooting was accidental.
Investigators also asked soldiers and commanders whether Tillman was disliked, whether anyone was jealous of his celebrity, or if he was considered arrogant. They said Tillman was respected, admired and well-liked.
The documents also shed new light on Tillman's last moments.
It has been widely reported by the AP and others that Spc. Bryan O'Neal, who was at Tillman's side as he was killed, told investigators that Tillman was waving his arms shouting "Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat (expletive) Tillman, damn it!" again and again.
But the latest documents give a different account from a chaplain who debriefed the entire unit days after Tillman was killed.
The chaplain said that O'Neal told him he was hugging the ground at Tillman's side, "crying out to God, help us. And Tillman says to him, `Would you shut your (expletive) mouth? God's not going to help you; you need to do something for yourself, you sniveling ..."
___
Associated Press reporters Scott Lindlaw in Las Vegas and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this story.
Sounds like maybe the different American units were shooting at each other?
}:-)4
DOD is part of the administration. We have been deceived and I’d like to know if the seven generals are the only ones who are part of the deception.
If you have a problem with AP as a source, I suggest taking it up with the mods.
Pat Tillman was a strong and brave man to his last second. May we all strive to be like this warrior.
I guess Im a little slow tonight
What kind of sick bastard would kill him intentionally? I guess just that, a sick bastard.
yawn
Envy.
I think you are missing it. His comrade was panicking because they were being shot at by their fellow soldiers. The question is whether they were being fired at intentionally.
??
No? I don't know, never been a warrior in action. And this AP report seems pretty flimsy. Regardless, over all the millennia of men fighting together in combat, I'll bet there were plenty of times when men felt compelled to dispatch an inept (so potentially dangerous) officer, and did. War combat isn't a game.
Actually they were being fired at intentionally. The real question some want answered is were they being fired at in a case of mistaken identity or intentional murder. I vote for mistaken identity myself.
Yes, they were being fired at intentionally. You knew what I meant.
You’re right. War certainly isn’t a game. I’m not aware of any cases of fragging where many people were in on the action. I guess it is certainly possible, but I’m also not aware of any investigators or the chain of command intentionally hiding fragging either.
His situation was so unique. This poor fellow had plenty of money and gave up millions. How utterly unfortunate. I’ve always felt there was so much more going on after hearing his brother and he declared their disillusion with the mission at some point. Didn’t he end up in Iraq for a while before going back to Afghanistan and dying.
Wow, amazing he lived.
I remember reading that he may have become disillusioned, and that his team had been in Iraq. Those Ranger units move around a lot.
McChrystal?
Wasn’t he the Ranger battalion commander in Mogadishu?
“I a sure no one intentionally killed her son...”
Just curious, why are you so sure?
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