The cover-up began soon after Tillman’s death
According to the Associated Press, the Army went into lock-down mode immediately after Pat Tillman’s death by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Within hours of Pat Tillman’s death, the Army went into information-lock down mode, blocking phone and Internet connections at an Afghanistan base, posting guards on a wounded platoon mate, and ordering Tillman’s uniform be burned.New documents reviewed by the Associated Press describe how the military sealed off information about Tillman’s death from all but a small ring of soldiers. Officers passed their suspicion of friendly fire up the chain to the highest ranks, but the truth did not reach Tillman’s family for five weeks.
OK, blocking phone and Internet connections aren’t unusual after a service member’s death. I can’t vouch for the policies in Afghanistan, but in Iraq, we would regular shut off the MWR telephones and Internet
whenever a soldier died within our area of operations. The shut-down would continue until the soldier’s next of kin had been notified. This was an effort to prevent the next of kin from finding out about their loved-one’s death through the rumour mill, rather than through the military. That, I don’t have a problem with.
I might even accept the guards on the wounded platoon mate to prevent media scrutiny - at least until Tillman’s family had been notified of his death. Let’s face it, Tillman was a big deal for the Army and his death would have been a media priority at the time.
The burning of the uniform - now that was an obvious attempt at a cover-up. This is where Army leadership definitely failed, and where I part company with those actions.
Let’s face it. The fact that a famous person with a huge salary was willing to give up his career to join the fight against terrorism was a giant propaganda coup for the U.S. government. And, his death by friendly fire would have been an equally giant embarrassment.
The Army and the U.S. government would have been better off owning up the events early, rather than drag out the truth, string the Tillman family along, and now face this incredibly embarrassing situation. They took what I believe to have been a tragic accident of war, and turned it into a scandal.
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