Tillman: Shot in the Head Three Times from Ten Yards; Army Attorneys Congratulated Themselves for Thwarting Criminal Investigation
July 27th, 2007Why was Pat Tillman assassinated?
Via: Washington Post:
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.
The medical examiners’ suspicions were outlined in 2,300 pages of testimony released to the AP this week by the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Among other information contained in the documents:
_ In his last words moments before he was killed, Tillman snapped at a panicky comrade under fire to shut up and stop “sniveling.”
_ Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.
_ The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman’s death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn’t recall details of his actions.
_ No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene _ no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.
The Pentagon and the Bush administration have been criticized in recent months for lying about the circumstances of Tillman’s death. The military initially told the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by enemy fire. Only weeks later did the Pentagon acknowledge he was gunned down by fellow Rangers.
With questions lingering about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached, Congress is preparing for yet another hearing next week.
Related: Was Potential Dissenter Pat Tillman Silenced by Assassination?
A comment from a retired Army guy: The M16A2 has a 3 shot burst mode that would allow a tight grouping (limited to 3 shot burst to maintain accuracy; anything beyond 3 rounds produces too much muzzle climb). This grouping of 3 rounds can be achieved beyond 10 yds/meters…that is not relevant.
The whole affair continues to stink….I caution that one doesn’t put too much into a tight grouping of three bullets.
So that’s how they did it. I was wondering how they managed to hit him in the head three times from 30 feet, but a three-shot burst makes sense.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure Army medical examiners are familar with burst fire. The farther the gun from the target, the wider the spread of the burst, no?
I think we can trust his estimation, especially since it contradicted the official story at the time.
“The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman’s death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn’t recall details of his actions.”
If the good guys ever get back in power this man has to hang. There’s simply no excuse I’d accept.
It’s been a very, very long time since the “good guys” were in power in the USA (pre-Columbus maybe?), or really much of anywhere else in the world . . . it’s just Bush/Cheney/Rove etc. don’t bother even pretending they aren’t fascist turds and psychopaths (they don’t bother telling you they “feel your pain” they intend to cause you some), it’s obvious to anyone w/half a brain. . . . See Consortium News http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/072707a.html
wherein a psychiatrist explains that Bush is a conscienceless psychopath who enjoyed torturing small animals as a child, adults as an adult, and has absolutely no remorse, basically it seems to be questionable whether he is “human” in any real sense at all, and why the next 18 months may be somewhat problematic for the Amerikans and the rest of the world that Bush and his crew are contemplating mass murdering with the many options available to them . . . . truly, given the USA’s rape of most of the rest of the world for so long (Mass murder in Latin/South America/Phillipines etc. – Operation Gladio terrorizing Europe etc.) its been a long time coming “home”. It was reported by DEA Agent Castillo, who wrote as to the CIA & Bush I’s drug trafficking in Powder Burns etc., that USA “Intelligence” agents felt strongly, and verbalized their strong feelings, for many years that Amerikans were a little “too free”, their buddies are remedying that situation about now . . . .
tmb, I’m with you on the Bush as “nut” angle. This isn’t the kind of “crazy” that people talk about when referring to their dear old Uncle Seymour, but the kind of clinically insane-with-a-straight-face kind of lunatic.
“It’s been a very, very long time since the “good guys†were in power in the USA (pre-Columbus maybe?), or really much of anywhere else in the world.”
That’s because “good guys” aren’t after power. Wanting to be in power is the surest sign that you can’t be trusted with it.