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.
Exactly...
If he has three gunshot wounds to the forehead how is goint to say anything?
} As long as it wasn’t murder I don’t see that it really matters.
Does awarding a Silver Star based on a lie not bother you at all>?
Actually God prefers us to speak to him both when we don’t and when we do need him.
To say that God helps those who helps themselves is merely quoting the Devil’s work.
I would assume to take it that they both were coming under friendly fire.
Overly agressive behavior can endanger the lives of one’s comrades.
Sports Illustrated (yes I know CNN affiliate) had a thorough article say like a year ago of that day’s account. For those out there wanting to assign blame on his death, there is plenty to go around, including Tillman himself from the way that article read. The way the article and drawings read, the area he was killed was an ideal area to launch an ambush from high on canyon walls on vehicles below, especially being that they were towing a broke HumVee. He and I believe an Afgani were killed when a vehicle in the valley had finally gotten ready to start firing at something and saw Tillman running high on a hill towards them and figured he was an ideal target. Besides the guys below doing the shooting, the military brass definitely gets to share blame for poor leadership decisions that day and it sounds like they kept on making poor decisions. It wasn’t just the valley they were in but the time of day, right before dusk. The swinging dicks in the field did exactly as ordered by the officer over the radio despite their requests not to. So some local probably took a shot or two at some vehicles starting the whole episode, and Tillman being the super aggressive man the story describes rushed right into a volatile situation. I think if the guy were less aggressive and had waited, assembled a larger group, and approached the other part of the valley with caution that he may not have been killed that day. OK even if we have our theories of what went wrong, he is still dead.
I love these general assumptions when something doesn’t jibe with one’s political views. Have any evidence AP has a dog in the Pat Tillman affair?
As someone who’s worked in media, I laugh and shake my head at this immediate kill-the-messenger mentality. Bias? Sure, sometimes. Conspiracy? Give me a break.
Only so much tinfoil, people. Leave some for the real kooks, please.
I always suspected he was murdered because some humans a have jealousy problems.
These weasel have can not see the bigger picture in life
“Actually God prefers us to speak to him both when we don’t and when we do need him.”
True
“To say that God helps those who helps themselves is merely quoting the Devil’s work.”
Not True
Oh really? Is it safe to assume you feel the same about Cindy? If so you better wear your flak suit from now on most do not like her.
Also I was really not trying to vilify her as you put it. All I was trying to point out that I now think perhaps some legal beagle put a mouse in her ear and told her hey we can make a bundle if you are willing to sue for wrongful death.
Beautiful!
Of course, if you haven't already been accused of it, you'll be told soon enough you're part of the grand MSM conspiracy.
Welcome to FR.
If that isn't vilifying, what is? And why are you screaming in red?
Yeah....and with yet another congressional investigation [No. 703] when will we hear the words, "What did President Bush know and when did he know it?"
God rest Pat Tilman's soul, I believe he was a true Patriot!!
My guess is that the president was fenced from all the details during the investigation. At least I hope he was.
Sounds like no enemy fire but plenty of friendly fire.
...shut up and stop "sniveling."
Don't get your shorts in a bundle I used two colors to separate what I was saying from yours.
As for vilifying her, LOL get a life and come out in to the real world where ambulance chasers are abundant and out to make a quick buck. All they have to do his say hey I will take the case pro-bono wave the thought of big green bucks in front and most will will you go for it. It is a fact of life everyone has some greed in them so live with it.
That's part of the problem of the way this story came out - if the guy was killed by friendly fire, why not just tell Americans that? Why make up a big story about bravely going down shooting Taliban? Do they really believe Americans are so mushy that they can't handle the truth? Or are they so scared of being perceived as weak themselves that they will lie about simple facts?
It looks like there was a decision from the very beginning that the truth regarding the death shouldn't be made public. Hell the Army ordered all Tillman's uniform and body armor BURNED http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/48990.php the next day.
Too bad, too, cause it would have shed some more light on this autopsy report. The doc has said "three holes in the forehead". But the vest Tillman was wearing had holes in the chest.
Two other sergeants who examined Tillman's vest noticed the bullet holes appeared to be from 5.56-caliber bullets — signature American ammunition. An awful realization dawned on the sergeants, whose names, like those of others who testified in the investigation, were deleted from the recently released testimony.
It's hard to tell whose decision it was originally - the White House or the Pentagon or the guys in the field. But someone screwed up BIG TIME by trying to pump this into some kind of more "acceptable" movie-script story.
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