Several evening news shows last week skirted this question and did quit a bit of coverage on Tillman's opposition to the Iraq invasion and politics in general. He surely was not one of Chimperator Bush's mindless followers, nor was he afraid to voice his views. Now, Andrew Sullivan picks up on this question (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/07/was-pat-tillman.html):
O'Neal said Tillman, a corporal, threw a smoke grenade to identify themselves to fellow soldiers who were firing at them. Tillman was waving his arms shouting "Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat [expletive] Tillman, damn it!" again and again when he was killed, O'Neal said...
In the same testimony, medical examiners said the bullet holes in Tillman's head 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.
The motive? I don't know. It's still likeliest it was an accident. But there's some mysterious testimony in the SI report about nameless snipers. A reader suggests the following interpretation: News this weekend said that there were "snipers" present and the witnesses didn't remember their names. I believe that's code in the Army--these guys were Delta. In the Tillman incident, these snipers weren't part of the unit and they were never mentioned publicly before. That's a key indicator that they weren't supposed to be acknowledged.
If you've ever read Blackhawk Down, Mark Bowden explains how he grew frustrated because interviewed Rangers kept referring to "soldiers from another unit" while claiming they didn't know the unit ID or the soldiers' names. It took him months to crack the unit ID and find people from Delta who were present at the fight. Randy Shugart and Gary Gordon, the Delta operators who earned Medals of Honor in Mogadishu, have always been identified as snipers, too.
If my theory is correct, the Delta guys could have fired the shots - a three-round burst to the forehead from 50 yards is impossible for normal soldiers and Rangers, but is probably an easy shot for those guys. But because Delta doesn't officially exist and Tillman was a hero, nobody in the Army would want to have to explain exactly how the event went down. Easier just to claim hostile fire until the family forced them to do otherwise.
This makes some sense to me, although we shouldn't dismiss the chance he was murdered. Tillman was a star and might have aroused jealousy or resentment. He also opposed the Iraq war and was a proud atheist. In Bush's increasingly sectarian military, that might have stirred hostility.
As I have said, I put nothing past the Bush/Cheney regime. They saw Tillman's death - regardless of the true cause - as a PR event to be manipulated. With these guys, the truth never matters. It's all a question of what spin can they put on an event.
2 comments:
Pat Tillman was killed with this type of sniper rifle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Mark_12_Mod_X_Special_Purpose_Rifle
The key to understanding how it happened is that it chambers a 5.56 mm round. Most sniper rifles are 7.62 or larger, but this is not, as it was designed for special operations.
The sniper killed Pat while observing through a thermal gun sight. Three single shots from less than 100 meters easily fits the bill with the shot group found on his forehead.
You have to interview some experts, those who will talk, to confirm.
The sniper didn't know it was Pat because thermal sites show hot spots that may or may not appear as a normal, clear image. If the sniper still had it in daylight mode, the red hot spot may have completely covered Pat's face.
Despite the defense from "Anonymous", this story makes the military look bad ... real bad. And their PR machine has effectively hushed this still-developing story. We want closure!
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