Tillman Family Slams Pentagon Probe

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

(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.

[me4prezz]

IF America falls it will not be an outside enemy that does us in, it'll be from withing by people who only claim to have our best interests at heart.
Posted by RandalDS at 03:09 AM : Mar 28, 2007

You have hit the nail on the head! That is a statement that I am doing to forward around to everyone I know!

[realpatriot1]

I'm surprized to learn that Ronald Reagan, George Bush 1, and Jerry Ford were all liberals. After all, Reagan cut & ran from Lebanon, Ford from Vietnam, and Bush from Baghdad.

[coffeehead-2009]

Impeach~~
this twisted pretzel has lost it's salt.



"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
-- George W. Bush on Kosovo (Houston Chronicle April 9, 1999)

[gunnerv1]

The "Bumper Stickers" Have arrived at
the low price of $3.75 each. "These Colors Never Run (unless you're a Liberal)" Get'em while they are hot!

[grazinggoat]

...truth is that American freedom is something that needs to be defended everyday. Not from outside forces since they're easy to identify and fight, but from a cancer from within, like the current republicans leadership. IF America falls it will not be an outside enemy that does us in, it'll be from withing by people who only claim to have our best interests at heart.
Posted by RandalDS

-twilight inspiration, blessed. Way to go Randy

[randalds]

I believe that what has happened is that we've had a democracy here for so long that we've become complacent. We've become so arrogant that many Americans believe that "it" can't happen here. That we are somehow immune from fascism. That there is some mythical "American Spirit" out there somewhere that will always save us from descending into a fascist government. Sort of like that's "So last century" kind of attitude. The truth is that American freedom is something that needs to be defended everyday. Not from outside forces since they're easy to identify and fight, but from a cancer from within, like the current republicans leadership. IF America falls it will not be an outside enemy that does us in, it'll be from withing by people who only claim to have our best interests at heart.

[randalds]

Yes we do think. Many of us anyway. It's sad that there will always be the sheep that this administration counts on to blindly follow them because after all "the president says it's so, so it must be!", without considering the one fact that their tiny minds can't accept, that the president may be a lying as*shole. Fascist governments and those that want to be count on this stupidity being in enough people for them to take over. It worked in Germany in 1936, but it will not work here. Ultimately there are enough THINKING Americans who will stop fascism from taking over here.

[me4prezz]

If humans believe a plane keeps going 500MPH and suddenly stops when it gets completely inside.... I'll bet a tree is smarter.
Look a the film in slow motion. It's a joke.
Posted by zootallures2 at 12:35 AM : Mar 28, 2007

If you truly believe it is such a joke, why don't you do an experiment and climb inside a plane and fly it into an unoccupied building and rid the world of one individual that we won't have to pay for in prison with charges of pure and simply idiocity.

[me4prezz]

me4prezz, you need a reality check. Talk to Rudy Guliani, who scooped up the LOVED ONES and put them in a land fill, about caring. Or said he was told to leave because the building was going to collapse, but no one told the firemen.

No planes. Only a blind fool would believe the ridiculous story from the government. If a plane hit the Pentagon why is it a secret? They got a picture of the pilot to use for evidence in court, I suppose...lol.
Posted by zootallures2 at 12:08 AM : Mar 28, 2007

What secret is there to a plane hittig the Pentagon? They have a really good video of it from a security camera and there is no secret about the events of 9/11. The LOVED ONES I was referring to were not Rudy Guliani, but the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, etc of the people who were killed. The loved ones of those who were jumping from the the top floors of the WWT center to escape the flames. The loved ones who happened to get on the wrong flight on the wrong day. The loved ones who called their loved ones from cell phones on planes that had been hijacked.

Do not confuse the unethical practices of this war and our government's leadership from the horror of a national tragedy on 9/11. To say that 9/11 never occurred is like saying Pearl Harbor really just sunk their own battleships....stupid and completely inappropriate.

I need to wake up? No. You need to study the law of physics and of chemical composition.

[randalds]

"How lucky it is for rulers, that men don't think"

Adolph Hitler.

Sounds like it could be a Bush-ism instead of a Hitler quote. Either way I'm sure it's something Hitler believed and Bush made the mistake of believing about Americans. We do think.