Tag: Pat Tillman

The Pat Tillman case has taken another twist:

Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman‘s forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player’s death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. […]

The documents show that a doctor who autopsied Tillman’s body was suspicious of the three gunshot wounds to the forehead. The doctor said he took the unusual step of calling the Army’s Human Resources Command and was rebuffed. He then asked an official at the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division if the CID would consider opening a criminal case.

The M-16 fires a three round burst and three wounds located close to each other would likely come from a closer source than the story that was claimed that he was shot from friendly fire by soldiers shooting from a distance.  I doubt it was criminal because anyone that wanted to kill Pat Tillman would know killing him would lead to huge headlines.

This is all speculation on my part, but I think the most likely possibility is an accidental discharge by someone that was with him.  Accidental discharges do happen and have killed people before.  An accidental discharge is a definite possibility, but such a thing happening to Pat Tillman would be highly embarrassing to the Rangers who pride themselves on being an elite unit.  If an accidental discharge killed Tillman that would not explain the wounds on his arms and legs.  I have to wonder if his unit to cover up the accidental discharge shot him a few more times in the arms and legs to give further credence to their story?

This would explain why the overall Special Forces commander at the time, the now retired Three Star General Philip Kensinger would lie to Pentagon investigator and try to cover up the case.  The embarrassment of an accidental discharge killing Tillman would be bad enough, but I don’t think it would cause a three star general to cover up what happened.  However, the unit shooting him after he was already dead in order to cover up an accidental discharge would be such an embarrassing set of circumstances, that maybe even a three star general would cover it up.

No matter what happened the Tillman case has been handled very poorly and people involved in the botched handling of this case need to be held accountable.  So far only General Kensinger has been censured for his actions, but surely more people are some how involved.  The Tillman family is owed a full investigation and all those responsible need to be held accountable.

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.