According to the Washington Post (reg. req.), the Army knew that former NFL player-turned-solider Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan but didn’t tell his family or the public until weeks afterward. Why?
A new Army report on the death shows that top Army officials, including the theater commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, were told that Tillman’s death was fratricide days before the service.
Soldiers on the scene said they were immediately sure Tillman was killed by a barrage of American bullets as he took shelter behind a large boulder during a twilight firefight along a narrow canyon road near the Pakistani border, according to nearly 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and investigative reports obtained by The Washington Post….
In interviews with [Brig. Gen.] Jones, soldiers who were with Tillman when he died said they immediately reported that other Rangers, riding in a Humvee, emptied their weapons at his position on a hill without first identifying whom they were shooting. Perceiving they were in a heated firefight, the soldiers rounded a corner and used several high-powered weapons to kill an Afghan Militia Force soldier working with the Rangers before pausing and turning their guns on Tillman. About 65 meters away, Tillman had been waving his arms and throwing a smoke grenade to signal his unit that he was not an enemy fighter.
So why didn’t the Army release this information sooner? Classified. According to the Post, officers initially reported that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, but the evidence seems to show the officers knew or had reason to know this was false.
Do you trust the Post‘s version of events? Reading the report itself would be helpful. Does anyone have a link?
