Report questions Pat Tillman's fatal wounds.
By Martha Mendoza - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 28, 2007 8:29:15 EDT
SAN FRANCISCO \ufffd Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman\ufffds forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former professional football player\ufffds death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
\ufffdThe medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described,\ufffd a doctor who examined Tillman\ufffds body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.
The doctors \ufffd whose names were blacked out \ufffd said the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.
The Pentagon and the Bush administration have been criticized in recent months for lying about the circumstances of Tillman\ufffds death. The military initially told the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by enemy fire. Only weeks later did the Pentagon acknowledge he was gunned down by fellow Rangers.
[...]
The medical examiners\ufffd 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 \ufffdsniveling.\ufffd
* 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 noncriminal, punishments.
* The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman\ufffds death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and could not recall details of his actions.
* No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene \ufffd no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.
With questions lingering about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached, Congress is preparing for yet another hearing next week.
[...]
One can understand the pressure to spin a friendly-fire incident as death under enemy fire, but it's too easy to take these snippets of evidence as covering up something far more nefarious. Henry Waxman will be holding a hearing on [link|http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1415|Wednesday] - let's hope they're able to address this news story and make progress on getting to the bottom of what happened that day and thereafter.
[edit:} More is in [link|http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/29/america/NA-GEN-US-Friendly-Fire.php|this] story at the IHT.
Cheers,
Scott.
