Well, duh ... he was brave, he was noble, he was courageous, he was a hero, he was a major pain in the ass...
But at least he wasn't a lying sack of shit like Bush, the Bushies' tame generals, Rumsfeld, et al.
(It will take the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps YEARS to repair the crap thrown on their honor by this swarm of vermin.)
Was Tillman Murdered? AP Gets New Documents
From EDITOR & PUBLISHER -- July 26, 2007 11:30 PM ET
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.
***********************
From SAINTPERLE April 10, 2007
No inside information here, just looking at the dynamics of it, seems less like an accident in the "fog of war" (wonderful how much vicious, mean crap can get explained away with that smokescreen concept) and more like a fragging of the press hero who gave up an NFL fortune in San Diego to go be a soldier in Afghanistan.
Fragging someone is not necessarily a violation of a warrior's code. But lying is. And someone will, sooner or later come clean.
Then again, since this is a guess, I could be wrong.
***********************************
And From SAINTPERLE July 14 (Bastille Day), 2007
Bush claims executive privilege on Tillman
How many people thought I was insane when I said "When the facts are all known -- if ever -- you're going to find out those other men in the platoon, the ones who shot him -- you'll find out it wasn't accidental -- it was intentional."
Maybe I was -- and am -- insane. Doesn't mean I'm dumb.
But the only thing that invoking Executive Privilege does is add credibility to my speculative opinion.
"Some call it mental illness.
I call it mental adventures."
Fengtze Yah
"War: first, one hopes to win;
then one expects the enemy to lose;
then one is satisfied that he too is suffering;
in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost."
Karl Kraus 1874-1936
(It will take the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps YEARS to repair the crap thrown on their honor by this swarm of vermin.)
Was Tillman Murdered? AP Gets New Documents
From EDITOR & PUBLISHER -- July 26, 2007 11:30 PM ET
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.
***********************
From SAINTPERLE April 10, 2007
Nothing friendly about this friendly fire
--ok, never can know if all the facts will ever come out, but I am willing to state, IF THEY DO, it will be that one of the Rangers will 'fess up that the 'friendly fire' was intentional, that his company took him out for being what they considered 'insufferable.'No inside information here, just looking at the dynamics of it, seems less like an accident in the "fog of war" (wonderful how much vicious, mean crap can get explained away with that smokescreen concept) and more like a fragging of the press hero who gave up an NFL fortune in San Diego to go be a soldier in Afghanistan.
Fragging someone is not necessarily a violation of a warrior's code. But lying is. And someone will, sooner or later come clean.
Then again, since this is a guess, I could be wrong.
***********************************
And From SAINTPERLE July 14 (Bastille Day), 2007
Bush claims executive privilege on Tillman
How many people thought I was insane when I said "When the facts are all known -- if ever -- you're going to find out those other men in the platoon, the ones who shot him -- you'll find out it wasn't accidental -- it was intentional."
Maybe I was -- and am -- insane. Doesn't mean I'm dumb.
But the only thing that invoking Executive Privilege does is add credibility to my speculative opinion.
"Some call it mental illness.
I call it mental adventures."
Fengtze Yah
"War: first, one hopes to win;
then one expects the enemy to lose;
then one is satisfied that he too is suffering;
in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost."
Karl Kraus 1874-1936
posted by Saintperle at
4:23 PM
