Pat Tillman Editorial from the Conservative Palm Beach Post

More Tillman coverup ?

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Pat Tillman's mother says: "The military has had every opportunity to do the right thing, and they haven't. They knew all along that something was seriously wrong, and they just wanted to cover it up." Mary Tillman's assessment is harsh — and accurate.
Her son, who became a recruiting icon when he left the National Football League to join the Army after 9/11, died two years ago next month during a firefight in Afghanistan. The Army never has provided a satisfactory account of his death by friendly fire. Just as bad, the Pentagon never has provided a satisfactory account of how officials tried to conceal the way Cpl. Tillman died.
The Army on Saturday announced that it will open a new investigation to see whether members of his unit were guilty of criminal negligence when they opened fire without verifying that they were shooting at the enemy.
But there would be limited satisfaction in bringing criminal charges against combat soldiers. The Army should be equally concerned with providing full details about the coverup.
In the most egregious abuse, the Army already knew that Cpl. Tillman had died from friendly fire when it turned a nationally televised memorial service that painted him as the victim of an enemy ambush into an exercise in propaganda. Too much about what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq never has been adequately explained. Cpl. Tillman's family deserve answers. So does the rest of the country.

source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/03/07/m12a_tillman_edit_0307_1.html