Was Pat Tillman Murdered?

The former football star, turned Army Ranger, opposed the invasion of Iraq, but was used, after his friendly-fire death in Afghanistan, by the Bush Administration for its own propaganda. He was reported to have been killed in action, and even his family wasn't informed that it had been by friendly fire. The exact circumstances of his death have been confirmed to have been covered up by the Pentagon. Now, there is evidence he was murdered.

Editor & Publisher:

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 medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.

The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.

Ultimately, the Pentagon did conduct a criminal investigation, and asked Tillman's comrades whether he was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed. The Pentagon eventually ruled that Tillman's death at the hands of his comrades was a friendly-fire accident.

Despicable

Los Angeles Times:

A new Pentagon report found that nine officers, including a three-star general, mishandled the investigation into the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of Pat Tillman, the pro-football player turned Army Ranger, a senior defense official said Friday night.

The report will not mete out specific punishments to the officers, who include four generals in all. But the Army will begin its own review of what action should be taken.

"We are going to move quickly," an Army official said. "We found out mistakes were made. We've already made fixes. We are going to make more."

Damn right, more mistakes will be made. Like in accountability.

Tillman opposed the war in Iraq. The Bush Administration wanted to politically exploit his heroism. To do that, they manipulated Tillman's family, every step of the way. Last October, Tillman's brother pulled no punches:

Kevin Tillman, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with his older brother, Pat, has been silent since his brother died in 2004. But last week, he wrote a scathing indictment of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and American apathy.

"Somehow, the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes," Kevin wrote on Truthdig.com, an online magazine that bought his work....

"Somehow, the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country. Somehow, this is tolerated. Somehow, nobody is accountable for this."