What Really Happened To Pat Tillman?

His Mother Tells 60 Minutes The Govt. Still Hasn't Told The Whole Truth About Her Son's Death

(CBS)  Pat Tillman was a heroic face of the war on terror - an NFL star who left behind a $3.6 million contract and his new wife to fight for his country after the attacks of Sept. 11. When he died in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, the Army told his family he'd been killed by enemy fire after courageously charging up a hill to protect his fellow Army Rangers.

But as Katie Couric reports, that story didn't hold up. He had really been killed by friendly fire, shot accidentally by his fellow soldiers.

For the past four years, his family, led by his mother Mary, has been searching for answers about what really happened, beginning the day she heard the news from Pat Tillman's wife Marie.

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"And she answered the phone just the way she always does. Her voice sounded just the same. And I just sort of breathed a sigh of relief, like, 'Oh, you know, everything's fine.' And I said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong?' And she said, 'He's dead.' And I said, 'Who's dead?' And she said, 'Pat's dead.' Within minutes of that, the Army had sent a soldier, a young, female soldier, to come tell me about what had happened," Mary Tillman remembers.

Asked what the soldier told her, Tillman says, "She said that he was shot getting out of a vehicle. He was shot in the head getting out of a vehicle. And that's basically all she knew."

Eleven days after his death, Pat Tillman’s family held a memorial service in their hometown of San Jose, Calif.

At that time, Tillman's family was led to believe that he was killed by the enemy, which was reinforced when the Army awarded him a Silver Star for his "gallantry in action against an armed enemy." They were told his convoy had been ambushed and he had charged up a hill, forcing the enemy to withdraw and saving the lives of his fellow Rangers.

"Was there any solace in the story the military told you about how courageous Pat had been?" Couric asks.

"Well, of course. But what's interesting is the story itself seemed so contrived, even then, even before he knew that it was contrived. It had this contrived feel to it," Tillman says.

Asked why, she says, "Well, you know, the soldier, you know, running up the ridge line, firing at the enemy. You know, saving his men. It did sound kind of like a John Wayne movie."

Then, about a month later there was a stunning announcement: the Army had been investigating his death and determined that Tillman was killed by his own men.

Asked how long she thinks it took the Army to realize her son had been killed by friendly fire, Tillman says, "Oh, they knew immediately. It was pretty evident right away. All the other soldiers on the ridge line suspected that that's exactly what happened."

Tillman says it took the Army five weeks to tell her. "Even the time lapse is not what is so disturbing to us. If they didn't tell us right away exactly what happened, I mean, it would seem to me that because of the clandestine nature of the Rangers, they could've easily said, 'Well, this is, you know, we can't really divulge this,'" she says.

"It's under investigation," Couric remarks.

"It’s under investigation. You know, they could've said anything. But they made up a story," Tillman says.

"Made up" a story, Mary contends, because when her son had left behind his football career to join the Army Rangers, he'd become one of the most high-profile soldiers in the U.S. military. He'd signed up to fight al Qaeda following Sept. 11, and talked about the importance of service one day after the attacks.

"You know, my great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has given up, has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing, as far as laying myself on the line like that. And so I have a great deal of appreciation for those who have," Pat Tillman said at the time.

After her son's death, Mary Tillman says she never felt like she got the straight story. And so the divorced middle school teacher launched her own investigation. Combing through Army documents, she found inconsistencies in the official military account. Tillman's brother Kevin was in the back of the convoy, but hadn't seen what happened. So she tracked down some other Rangers who were there that day.

While there is some disagreement about the details of what happened the day Tillman was killed, the Rangers 60 Minutes spoke with said it began when their commanders made a critical error, splitting their convoy into two groups as they moved through Taliban territory.

"That was a pretty scary situation you were driving into and you knew it?" Couric asks.

"And we knew it, absolutely," Russell Baer replies.

"We can all identify that feeling as we drove into that canyon and we knew this is not a good spot," Brad Jacobson adds.

[justsharingmyview]

When one tries to pull of any degree of a "cover up", odds are, even after the cover up is uncovered, the motive revealed is a mere smoke screen and still not the truth. How many people feel in their gut that they were not covering up the possibility that he was killed by friendly fire, RATHER the fact that he was likely killed by INTENSIONAL friendly fire? Perhaps this high profile soldier posed too great a risk to our government if he returned home with a more accurate view of the war than our government and media is leading us to believe? If you ask me, I bet the powers at be just couldn't stomach another Paul Rieckhoff on their hands blowing their lies and bull sh*t to smithereens!

[petersemkiw]

Katie did a very good interview on a difficult and trajic event for all involved.

[renniepotter]

Ms. Couric''s interview w/ Secretary of the Army, Peter Geren, was a wasted opportunity. She didn''t pin him down and get him to answer how the coverup of Tillman happened and who did it. She let him off the hook. What a shame ... very poor journalism.

[msimon001]

Enough, what happened to Pat Tillman was a tragety, but lets move on. 60 Minutes has covered this issue before but this time once I heard that Tillmans mother wrote a book I realized what this was. Then you add insult by having Courik do the book sale warm up. If some people can''t understand that sometimes the government has to lie or mislead till they can complete the investigation you have no concept of security for the military. Jusy cause you want to know doesn''t mean you need to know. Move on. investigationyou areignorant.

[jwconsult]

Pat Tillman is old news, and already been covered, how about the other 4000 servicemen killed Mary, when are they going to be allowed to bring closure, every time you excersize your cords to bring up someone 3 years ago, they are forced by you to relive their losses. So have the decency to sit and merge back into traffic, I have other thing more important than your rantings and what you want. Class is over, go home!!! We have. Your an irritating mosquito, and here in the heartland we dispose of them without prejudice. some people and their kids just want to be heard always, and we don''t care. Old news.

[michellem99-2009]

Barbara, I don''t care for the ones running'' Bush has/is grooming them. he put his kind in key places. I was/am allapped our votes mean nothing..It is in the paws of superdelegates..I heard that on the news. I was floored. I have never heard of them.

[michellem99-2009]

Dear Mainers
I ask ye to vote Laurie Dobson as yer Senate seat.She has a site. I have read her platform. I am a Manier in Seattle. She is for ye. Please put in the US Senate as ye voice. What I have read she is for the Maine people.
I hate the illagal wars and the lies. My Maine parents raised me to tell the truth. I have met vets that hate the spape of this nation and lies.

[barbaraf4]

"everyone knows the Bush administration is corrupt but few people know that there is a growing movement to impeach both Bush and Cheney. It is all in the hands of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, where impeachment is bottled up, go to http://ralphlopezworld.com/#members

a
nd call these congressmen urging them to get it going. It was Republican Barry Goldwater who sealed it against Richard Nixon, the Democrats don''''t care, so it''''s up to patriotic Republicans who see Bush as an albatross around their necks. See An Open Letter to from Republicans to Republican Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee at
http://www.neimpeach.org/wp/?page_id=2
0" Posted by Polis2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, but do we really want Condi Rice or Nancy Polosi for President?

[polis2]

everyone knows the Bush administration is corrupt but few people know that there is a growing movement to impeach both Bush and Cheney. It is all in the hands of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, where impeachment is bottled up, go to http://ralphlopezworld.com/#members

and call these congressmen urging them to get it going. It was Republican Barry Goldwater who sealed it against Richard Nixon, the Democrats don''t care, so it''s up to patriotic Republicans who see Bush as an albatross around their necks. See An Open Letter to from Republicans to Republican Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee at
http://www.neimpeach.org/wp/?page_id=20

[inventagod2]

I cannot trust anyone in this administration.
I would not and did not vote for them.
They have lied from the first.
They continue to lie.

[jerr11]

The Pat Tillman tragedy and Jessica Lynch "rescue" show that our government is more into PR than truth.

It''s all about public perception.

In other words, all about conning the public.

They started with 935 lies to bring us into the war.

And they''re still lying to us.

[polis2]

From an article in the Nation Magazine
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051024/zirin

I have followed threads claiming that Pat Tillman was murdered because he planned to return home to become a high profile critic of the Iraq war and the Bush administration, but I have pulled back a bit from believing them. Tillman''s head wounds looked very suspicious but there is a kind of very high rate of fire weapon which could have placed the closely spaced holes from a distance. What is undisputed were his political plans. From the Nation article:

"His close friend Army Spec. Russell Baer remembered, "I can see it like a movie screen. We were outside of [an Iraqi city] watching as bombs were dropping on the town.... We were talking. And Pat said, ''You know, this war is so f***ing illegal.'' And we all said, ''Yeah.'' That''s who he was. He totally was against Bush." With these revelations, Pat Tillman the PR icon joins WMD and Al Qaeda connections on the heap of lies used to sell the Iraq War."

"Mary Tillman says a private meeting was planned between [Noam Chomsky] and Pat after Pat''s return--a meeting that never took place, of course. Chomsky confirms this scenario. This was the real Pat Tillman: someone who, like the majority of this country, was doubting the rationale for war, distrusting his Commander in Chief and looking for answers."

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NATION
Pat Tillman, Our Hero
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051024/zirin

[lefttech]

Searched for a factoid I had read (or heard on a conspiracy-sleuthing website such as www.wfmu.org/daveemory perhaps?)..
that Tillman had written to Noam Chomsky, interested in his views and wanting to meet with him. A regular guest over the years on the truly progressive Pacifica network
www.pacifica.org
.. searching for his name on this site yielded but 4 hits from 2006.
The relevance of course would be that such communication, uber-surveilled as are all Americans these days, constitutes circumstancial evidence supporting the assertion that the nearly point-blank rounds emptied into his head were to silence a sports celebrity who actually had begun to adopt a leftist perspective.
Searching the archives of the following indispensible sites might provide you with much better context:
www.commondreams.org
www.buzzflash.com
www.truthout.org
www.dailykos.org

and for a live meeting of the minds each night, sharpen your wit and call or email in to the informative yet tremendously riotous talk shows on
www.NovaMradio.com
Thanks.

[lefttech]

Searched for a factoid I had read (or heard on a conspiracy-sleuthing website such as www.wfmu.org/daveemory perhaps?)..
that Tillman had written to Noam Chomsky, interested in his views and wanting to meet with him. A regular guest over the years on the truly progressive Pacifica network
www.pacifica.org
.. searching for his name on this site yielded but 4 hits from 2006.
The relevance of course would be that such communication, uber-surveilled as are all Americans these days, constitutes circumstancial evidence supporting the assertion that the nearly point-blank rounds emptied into his head were to silence a sports celebrity who actually had begun to adopt a leftist perspective.
Searching the archives of the following indispensible sites might provide you with much better context:
www.commondreams.org
www.buzzflash.com
www.truthout.org
www.dailykos.org

and for a live meeting of the minds each night, sharpen your wit and call or email in to the informative talk shows on
www.NovaMradio.com
Thanks.

[jamalke71]

Pat Tillman was assassinated because he was an extremely well-known and resepected member of the military who was planning on joining the anti-war/anti-Bush movement upon returning to the States in the summer of 2004.

They fought him over there so they wouldn''t have to fight him over here; that''s sort of their thing.

Pat Tillman was assassinated. That''s where the questioning should go. Oh, and Kauzlarich should face charges.

[deicing]

I am disappointd in cbs and couric. couric looked like an idiot. there''s much more to the story. what of the troops not liking that Pat was a democrat. why? that was always the big question. not addressed. Good for his mom for at least trying to bring out the truth, going before this incompetent or controlling interviewer. what happened to Pat reminds me of the story of religious persecution in the army. a commander in iraq demanded that one of his troops pray along with the others. when he refused, he was persecuted, eventually dismissed. religion, politics? no freedom of speech, separation of church and state? And now CBS holding back on facts? would we have heard such a shameful bunch of questions from barbara walters?...

[dylanxxv]

yawn...

[mediapreachr]

Most of you guys are so insecure that you will not know the truth if it stares you in the face.
That''s why the gov officials have to come out with soothing stories-to protect your feelings-phew...
The army manual will add a chapter with this very case-stating that you cannot go "bananas" on your own subordinates-even if you think you''re one "macho hombre";
Some of your soldiers will react under the stress of battle and if they feel offended-they will put a couple of slugs in your back.Pat got FRAGGED.

[nenee55]

As a member of the service who has deployed to Iraq, I don''t understand how "pghlady3" can simply say "GET OVER IT." Granted I didn''t have to leave post, but I understand the dangers of being in a war zone. If you have never lost a friend or family member than maybe you can say "get over it." But put yourself in his mother''s shoes. She was told a lie, why would you lie about someone''s death, their final moments. There are always going to be lots of questions that everyone may wonder, but what I have come to learn about the military, in general, is that you are usually only told what you need to know and its ot always the whole truth, no matter what your rank is. I''m sorry for her loss, I can''t say that I have been in her exact shoes, but I can sympathize with her.

"IF YOU DON''T STAND FOR SOMETHING, YOU WILL FALL FOR ANYTHING."

[ringading3]

Katie Couric,
Barbara Walters is now telling how she got all those HOT TIPS from "government sources". It is a little demeaning, but isn''t the "story" worth it?