Criminal Probe to Begin in Pat Tillman Case

Things are getting interesting with the Pat Tillman case, as the Army has announced that it will begin an investigation into his death:

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new investigation has not been formally begun, said it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide.

A second Pentagon official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said no specific soldier is under investigation at this point. He said the CID will conduct an overall death investigation and “let the facts take them where they may.”

The official said that the CID’s probe — the fifth formal investigation into the incident — will focus on the cause of Tillman’s death, not necessarily on whether the previous investigations were done correctly. It is the first criminal probe.

Tillman’s mother, Mary, told the Washington Post Saturday that the criminal investigation should have been launched at the onset. “The military has had every opportunity to do the right thing and they haven’t,” she said. “They knew all along that something was seriously wrong and they just wanted to cover it up.”

With the Army announcing a criminal probe I think it is clear that something really embarrassing to the Army and the Rangers happened in Afghanistan in regards to Pat Tillman’s death. He was reportedly killed by friendly fire during an ambush, but if that was strictly the case then there wouldn’t be a criminal probe. I beginning to think that maybe he was killed by an accidental discharge or people fooling around with their weapons and being negligent. How else could you explain a probe for negligent homicide? This could become very embarrassing for the Rangers once this investigation is complete.