Football players death in Afghanistan, just another Government lie.

Army denies cover-up following Tillman's death

June 10, 2005
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

WASHINGTON -- The Army says the delay in reporting that former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman died from friendly fire resulted from procedural mistakes, not a desire to cover up the truth.

Tillman's parents have criticized the Army for waiting weeks to tell them their son's death in Afghanistan was accidental and did not result from enemy fire. They have accused the government of lying to cover up the facts.

A statement from the Army's public affairs office on Thursday said Tillman's Ranger unit did not quickly tell the Pentagon the nature of his death on April 22, 2004 because the unit's leaders were waiting until their investigation was finished.

"While procedural misjudgments and mistakes contributed to an air of suspicion, no one intended to deceive the Tillman family or the public as to the cause of his death," the statement said. The Ranger unit's withholding information "was an application of judgment, not a willful violation of regulation. Nevertheless, it was procedurally wrong."

Tillman left the NFL after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to join the Army with his brother.

After a tour in Iraq, they were sent to Afghanistan in 2004.

He was killed by gunfire from his fellow soldiers, who mistook him for the enemy as he got into position to defend them, military officials have said. After the initial reports of his death, the military for weeks did not dispute the widespread belief he was killed by enemy fire.

His memorial service in San Jose, Calif., took place May 3, 2004. The Army announced 26 days later that Tillman likely died because of friendly fire.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

The point of this is it just shows they will lie to you whenever they feel like it and it doesn't seem to matter to most Americans. With this and the whole thing with forcing Newsweek to retract the story about the Quran, I think they're just shoving it in our faces now.

[edit on 11-6-2005 by NoJustice]

That really didn't make any sense, perhaps that had to investigate to ensure that it was friendly fire.

Even if they knew, who's to say that they weren't required to debrief them, and figure out the exact order of events before releasing that information to civilians, like his parents.

--Edit--

And if it were a coverup, they wouldn't have came out and admited it in the end....

[edit on 23-6-2005 by JBurns]