"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote in
news:0qqdnRVIL6vz0pbZRVn-gg@comcast.com:

As I remember it, they also tried to hide the fact that Tillman was an
atheist. His brother saw to it that this was mentioned at his funeral.

Joint Chiefs Chair Promises Tillman Review WASHINGTON - The chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday promised the family of former
professional football player Pat Tillman that investigators will examine
all the facts surrounding his death in Afghanistan.

Gen. Peter Pace said the Army was launching a criminal investigation
into the April 2004 death of Tillman - an Army Ranger shot by fellow
soldiers in what previous military reviews had concluded was an accident
- because the Defense Department's inspector general determined it was
an additional step that needed to be taken. A Pentagon official told The
Associated Press on Saturday that a criminal investigation would focus
on possible charges of negligent homicide. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because the new investigation had not formally
begun.

Investigators want to look into whether fire by the friendly forces was
"fire that should have been going on or was someone potentially firing a
weapon when they should not have been," Pace said.

"Although there's no evidence that there was criminal activity, the
investigators did not specifically look at whether or not there was
criminal activity, criminal activity being when Cpl. Tillman was killed
by friendly fire," Pace said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Tillman's parents have been highly critical of the Army for its handling
of questions about their son's death. Reached Saturday night by The
Washington Post, Patrick Tillman Sr. remained skeptical.

"I think it's another step," Tillman said. "But if you send
investigators to reinvestigate an investigation that was falsified in
the first place, what do you think you're going to get?"

The scope of the new investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation
Command had not yet been determined in detail, Col. Joseph Curtin, an
Army spokesman, said Saturday. Curtin said the inspector general's
office reviewed the matter at the Army's request and concluded a
criminal probe was warranted.

Pace responded only indirectly when asked whether Tillman's case, which
will now undergo a fifth formal investigation, had been mishandled.
"Folks look at them to make sure they have complete information," he
said on "Fox News Sunday." "If there's not complete information, they
send it back."

Tillman, 27, played football for the Arizona Cardinals but left the NFL
to join the Army after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Tillman died on April 22, 2004, when he was struck by gunfire during a
firefight along a canyon road near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The
Army said at the time that the barrage of bullets came from enemy fire.

A report by the Army later found that troops with Tillman knew at the
time that friendly fire had killed the football star. Officers destroyed
critical evidence and concealed the truth from Tillman's brother, also
an Army Ranger, who was nearby, the report found.

More than three weeks after a memorial service in San Jose, Calif., the
Army announced on May 29, 2004, that friendly fire rather than an enemy
encounter had caused Tillman's death. However, even at the time of the
memorial, top Army officials were aware that the investigation showed
the death had been caused by an act of "gross negligence," the report
said.

And the conclusion will be: Since so many people have forgotten the
relevant facts in the last two years, we can find no reason to hold anyone
accountable..