Rummy On Tillman: When Did He Know?
The House committee investigating the Pat Tillman case was unable to pin Donald Rumsfeld down on when exactly he found out that the former NFL star had been killed not by enemy but by friendly fire. But to me, the answer is obvious -- he first heard about the possibility of friendly fire within days of Tillman's death in April of 2004. Testifying with Rumsfeld was former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Meyers, who said he first heard about it in late April and that it would be logical -- although he had no specific recollection -- that he would pass that on to Rumsfeld.
The two men met and spoke to each other constantly, and to me it's inconceivable to me that Meyers wouldn't have given his boss a heads up on such a high profile news story as Tillman's death. So I am convinced that the two top people in the Pentagon knew by late April of '04 that there was an investigation into whether the first bona fide hero of the war against terror had been accidentally killed by his own men.
That was before the nationally televised memorial service at which Tillman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for bravery in the face of enemy fire. Neither man did anything to correct that false account -- but they have a good excuse. Investigating Tillman's death and informing his family was the Army's job, not theirs. Meyers said it would have been "irresponsible" of him to intervene because he would have been seen as trying to influence the outcome of an investigation.
But I'll bet you both men wish they'd bent the rules a little and asked the Army what the hell was going on.
