More on the Tillman Investigaton

You must surf right on over to Deep Thought and read Eli Blake's analysis on the death and investigation into the death of Pat Tillman. Here is a brief excerpt:

Pat Tillman was in fact a hero. On that there is little dispute. He had millions of dollars and an NFL career on the table in front of him, but after the September 11 attacks, he joined the army because he felt it was of critical importance at this time that he serve his country. And he was serving his country on the day he was killed, regardless of who fired the shots that killed him. Friendly fire is a fact of combat. As I once heard it described, 'Friendly fire-- isn't.' There is nothing dishonorable about being killed by friendly fire (just as Stonewall Jackson deserves to be remembered as a great Confederate general during the Civil War, despite being shot mistakenly by his own men during the battle of Chancellorsville.) Had the army simply reported the death as it was when it happened, it would today be considered an unfortunate and tragic-- but no less heroic-- death, and the case would be closed.

The army did not do that. Whether because of the perceived embarrassment to the army of such a high profile soldier due to friendly fire, or whether because it might open questions about why the US army has had a number of other friendly fire incidents (remember the incident involving the Canadian troops in Afghanistan, or the Sgrena incident) or whether they simply wanted to continue to portray Tillman as larger than life for recruiting purposes (some myth about how martyrs are always killed by the enemy), the army covered up the details of the incident. Further compounding the situation, a false story was put forward instead, which described Tillman taking on the enemy alone in order to provide cover for his troops. Tillman was then awarded a Silver Star, on April 30, 2004, just eight days after he died. The story took on a life of its own, with Tillman honored with a moment of silence at the NFL draft that weekend, and at numerous other events around the nation. Tillman is even bigger here in Arizona than in many places. In fact, the area around the Cardinals new stadium will be named the "Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza," when the stadium opens later this year.

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