mykevermin
CAGiversary!
- Feedback
- 34 (97%)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The parents of Army Ranger Pat Tillman are frustrated and angry over the military's investigations into the former professional football player's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in 2004, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
A report by Brig Gen. Gary Jones of the Army Special Operations Command found that the U.S. Army determined within days of his death that Tillman had been killed mistakenly by fellow Rangers but did not tell his family or the public for weeks and even destroyed evidence.
In separate interviews, Tillman's parents, who are divorced, said they are do not believe they will ever get the full story, the newspaper reported.
Pat Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to sign up as an elite Army ranger, along with his brother, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was hailed as a hero and a role model.
The Army's initial public account of Tillman's death on April 22, 2004, in a remote canyon near the Pakistani border indicated he had been slain by enemy fire during an ambush.
"The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting," Mary Tillman told the newspaper.
Patrick Tillman Sr. blamed high-ranking Army officers for presenting "outright lies" to the family and to the public, The Washington Post said.
"They purposely interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy," said Tillman, a San Jose, Calif. lawyer.
Army officials said on Friday that the Army "reaffirms its heartfelt sorrow to the Tillman family and all families who have lost loved ones during this war," The Post reported.
What's that Foo Fighters song? "There goes my hero?"
myke.
A report by Brig Gen. Gary Jones of the Army Special Operations Command found that the U.S. Army determined within days of his death that Tillman had been killed mistakenly by fellow Rangers but did not tell his family or the public for weeks and even destroyed evidence.
In separate interviews, Tillman's parents, who are divorced, said they are do not believe they will ever get the full story, the newspaper reported.
Pat Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to sign up as an elite Army ranger, along with his brother, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was hailed as a hero and a role model.
The Army's initial public account of Tillman's death on April 22, 2004, in a remote canyon near the Pakistani border indicated he had been slain by enemy fire during an ambush.
"The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting," Mary Tillman told the newspaper.
Patrick Tillman Sr. blamed high-ranking Army officers for presenting "outright lies" to the family and to the public, The Washington Post said.
"They purposely interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy," said Tillman, a San Jose, Calif. lawyer.
Army officials said on Friday that the Army "reaffirms its heartfelt sorrow to the Tillman family and all families who have lost loved ones during this war," The Post reported.
What's that Foo Fighters song? "There goes my hero?"
myke.
