SF Chronicle: The controversy over the death of former football star Pat Tillman deepened Friday when a document emerged showing that a top Army gene
March 31, 2007

SF Chronicle:

The controversy over the death of former football star Pat Tillman deepened Friday when a document emerged showing that a top Army general suggested only a week after Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan that the White House should be informed of the real circumstances of the shooting.

In a cable, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, chief of the Army's Special Operations Command, suggested to Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, that President Bush and other senior officials might mistakenly claim that Tillman had been killed by the enemy on April 22, 2004.

The memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press, does not prove that Abizaid informed Bush or his aides. White House spokesman Blain Rethmeier said Friday that there is no record indicating Bush was advised of McChrystal's concerns.

But to skeptics, the memo suggests the Pentagon was more concerned with protecting the president from embarrassment than with disclosing the difficult truth to Tillman's family -- who were finally informed four weeks later.

The article later states that there are members of both the House and Senate calling for hearings to determine if there was indeed a coverup, including Sen. John McCain. Considering McCain's coziness with Bush over Iraq, it's hard to believe that the hearing would end up being satisfactory to the Tillman family.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon