Tillman Family Slams Pentagon Probe

Calls Report On Death Of Pat Tillman "Unsatisfactory," Urges Congressional Investigation





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Tillman Findings Debated

Retired Army col. Mitch Mitchell and the San Francisco Chronicle's Robert Collier speak with Harry Smith about the fallout in the handling the friendly-fire death of Pat Tillman. | Share/Embed


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(CBS/AP) Pat Tillman's family firmly rejected the Defense Department's findings into the former NFL star's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan, calling for congressional investigations into what they see as broad malfeasance and a coverup.

"Perhaps subpoenas are necessary to elicit candor and accuracy from the military," his family said in a statement Monday night, after hearing the results of the latest probes.

The men who shot Tillman have always claimed the April 22, 2004, incident was a terrible mistake in the fog of war, and the Army officially agreed Monday, declining to press charges.

But possible punishments still hang over several high-ranking officers who allegedly botched the investigations and key administrative tasks.

"There's still actions that have to be taken," CBS News military analyst Ret. Army Col. Mitch Mitchell told CBS' The Early Show.

Nine Army officers, including four generals, made errors in reporting the friendly fire death to their superiors and to the Tillman family, the Pentagon said. Defense officials said one or more of those officers who provided misleading information as the military investigated could be charged with a crime.

A central issue in the case is why the Army waited about five weeks from the time it suspected Tillman's death was friendly fire until it told his family. Several officers have testified they wanted to wait until the early investigations were complete, but regulations required the Army to notify family members if friendly fire was even suspected.

Calling the government's findings "unsatisfactory," the family said in a statement: "The characterization of criminal negligence, professional misconduct, battlefield incompetence, concealment and destruction of evidence, deliberate deception, and conspiracy to deceive are not 'missteps.' These actions are malfeasance."

The latest investigation reserves its strongest criticism for Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, the now-retired three-star general who was in charge of Army special operations.

"We found compelling evidence that Kensinger learned of suspected fratricide well before the memorial service and provided misleading testimony" on that issue, the report said. That misrepresentation, the report said, could constitute a "false official statement," a violation of the Military Code of Justice.

Because Kensinger is out of the military, it would be difficult to charge him criminally, however.

Referring to Kensinger, Tillman's family said, "While he is not blameless, we believe he is the pawn being sacrificed to protect the king, that king being secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld."

Mitchell said it was likely discussions on how to handle Tillman's situation reached Rumsfeld. "I absolutely believe it did," he said. "Because with a figure as important as Pat Tillman — granted, he's a soldier — but he's a soldier with some notoriety."

Acting Army Secretary Peter Geren asked Gen. William Wallace, who oversees training for the Army, to review the actions of the officers and to provide a progress report on possible punishments in 30 days.

"We as an Army failed in our duty to the Tillman family, the duty we owe to all the families of our fallen soldiers: Give them the truth, the best we know it, as fast as we can," Geren told reporters at the Pentagon. "Our failure in fulfilling this duty brought discredit to the Army and compounded the grief suffered by the Tillman family. For that, on behalf of the Army, I apologize to the Tillman family."

"The briefing we just received was shamefully unacceptable," the family said in a statement issued from their home in San Jose, where Pat Tillman grew up. "Our family is therefore compelled to continue our (pursuit of) the full truth about the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death and the so-called 'missteps' and 'deficiencies' of Pat's unit, the Army, the Department of Defense, and this administration."

In its rush to honor the high profile NFL hero, the Army failed miserably in telling Tillman's family the truth, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The Army waited 35 days to tell the family the truth, leaving Tillman's father in the dark at a nationally televised memorial service.

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