More Tillman

On Saturday, Mary Tillman went to a graduation party, corrected essays written by her junior high school students and got the house ready for a visit from her mother. Life goes on, even though the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of her famous football-playing son never fully leaves her thoughts.

And how could it? Although Pat Tillman, 27, was shot to death on a mountain pass in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, his family has been tortured ever since by a pattern of official deception over how he died — killed by U.S. Army machine-gun fire — and why the family was kept in the dark.

That deception has continued with the latest and allegedly definitive government statement. Last week, the Army unconvincingly claimed that the suppression of field reports that Tillman was killed by friendly fire did not amount to an official cover-up but was merely the result of confusing regulations that should be changed — "an administrative error," in the words of Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, the head of Army public affairs.

Mary Tillman, however, begs to differ with this convenient conclusion to the investigation. When I met with her on Sunday near the Northern California suburb where she raised her three sons, she was measured but firm in rejecting the Army's report and latest statements.

"As far as our family is concerned, the case of Pat's death is not closed, as the Army suggests," she told me. "It concerns us that the documents we received state that Gen. [John P.] Abizaid knew on April 28 that Pat was absolutely killed by fratricide. Why were we not told prior to Pat's memorial service, which was nationally televised on May 3? We weren't told until five weeks later, and only because the troops that were with Pat came home from Afghanistan and the story was unfolding."

http://www.coOn Saturday, Mary Tillman went to a graduation party, corrected essays written by her junior high school students and got the house ready for a visit from her mother. Life goes on, even though the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of her famous football-playing son never fully leaves her thoughts.

And how could it? Although Pat Tillman, 27, was shot to death on a mountain pass in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, his family has been tortured ever since by a pattern of official deception over how he died — killed by U.S. Army machine-gun fire — and why the family was kept in the dark.

That deception has continued with the latest and allegedly definitive government statement. Last week, the Army unconvincingly claimed that the suppression of field reports that Tillman was killed by friendly fire did not amount to an official cover-up but was merely the result of confusing regulations that should be changed — "an administrative error," in the words of Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, the head of Army public affairs.

Mary Tillman, however, begs to differ with this convenient conclusion to the investigation. When I met with her on Sunday near the Northern California suburb where she raised her three sons, she was measured but firm in rejecting the Army's report and latest statements.

"As far as our family is concerned, the case of Pat's death is not closed, as the Army suggests," she told me. "It concerns us that the documents we received state that Gen. [John P.] Abizaid knew on April 28 that Pat was absolutely killed by fratricide. Why were we not told prior to Pat's memorial service, which was nationally televised on May 3? We weren't told until five weeks later, and only because the troops that were with Pat came home from Afghanistan and the story was unfolding."

The case of Pat Tillman's death is a shocking reminder of how quickly the US government is willing to propagandize any viable event they can. I remember how many stories the newsmedia carried about Pat Tillman; I remember feeling like they were leeching the tragedy of the man's bravery and sudden death from the situation. But I was shocked to find out that not only had they manipulated his bravery for a propagandistic purpose; but the Army had fabricated the circumstances of his death because it was, in fact, a friendly fire incident.

That's the shame in this story- how egregariously the military manipulated Tillman's death into propaganda out of a cover-up.