Sports Radio Service


		Tillman Mom stays course on investigation By David Zizmor March 7, 2006

	Mary Tillman, the mother of the late San Jose native, Leland High School graduate, and Arizona Cardinal safety, is pushing for an investigation in to the death of her son, Pat Tillman who lost his life due to “friendly fire” as the U.S. Army described the circumstances of his death, on April 22, 2004. Tillman has been asking questions of a Pentagon inspector about witnesses, internal documents, casualty reports which reportedly contained false information. When did Pentagon officials learn about Tillman's death, was it caused by friendly fire, and most of all why did it take five weeks from April 22nd to notify Mrs. Tillman of the details of Pat’s death? Circumstances later revealed to the public later found that the Army hid and destroyed information regarding Tillman's death just recently the Army announced they would conduct a further investigation into the situation alleging that perhaps there would be a criminal investigation for negligent homicide on the part of the Army personnel involved in the incident as well as a cover up by people in the Pentagon. The Tillman family has been highly critical of they way the Army has handled this situation. The Army did not tell Tillman's family he was killed by "friendly fire" until well after memorial services in San Jose in May of 2004. The Army did not tell Kevin Tillman Pat's brother and this has been a long hard road for the Tillman family and friends of them in San Jose. The government according to the family has conducted itself in a very questionable manner and said that there is quite likely that a cover up did occur. Higher ups in the Army knew that the incident involved friendly fire and now there is the question that the "friendly fire" shouldn't have occurred in the first place which the negligent homicide was occurring. Hopefully the government will get to the bottom of this and put this to rest allowing everyone to rest more easily. Tillman a Leland High School graduate of San Jose deserves the respect and honor of everyone in the country and Tillman especially deserves a full and complete investigation into how his death was handled by the U.S. Army. "There have been so many discrepancies so far that it's hard to know who to believe, there are too many murky details." said Mary Tillman. The Army has documents that contained inaccuracies when first investigating the Tillman death of changed witness testimonies and sworn statements so that the Army would not be held liable of "gross negligence". The case was so sensitive to the Army that they wanted to keep it under wraps because Tillman was a high profile solider in the battlefield and the circumstances around the way he was killed. Tillman was hit according to the Army report by enemy fire getting out of a vehicle and died one hour later. On May 28th the Army later admitted that Tillman was killed by "friendly fire" and that Tillman died at a medical treatment facility. On April 23rd a soldier was ordered to burn Tillman's body armor which was riddled with bullets. The family points out that the Army and that solider destroyed evidence. The solider also testified that he was ordered to burn Tillman's uniform and vest because they were soaked in blood and were considered a bio-hazard. While the Army apologized for the delay they issued blame on "procedural misjudgments and mistakes." This was something Mrs. Tillman wasn't going to take lying down, "I just want accountability I want answers." said Tillman. Mary Tillman is a teacher at a San Jose public school she is still pressing for an investigation into the death of Pat. The Pentagon's inspector general has opened an new investigation for August it will be the fourth such investigation but this time with all the publicity Mrs. Tillman will really get a hard look into what happen and what was covered up and why. Mrs. Tillman is looking for some closure along with her husband Patrick Sr. Tillman was respected by all of his fellow soldiers and some unnamed soldiers and Tillman family members said that Tillman's death report was made out to be tailored made for a propaganda tool "football star dies war hero" when the soldiers involved in the friendly fire just "goofed up" and killed Tillman. David Zizmor went to High School with Pat Tillman at Leland High School in San Jose and David is a co-host for on Sportstalk.