CNN takes shots at US Army for Pat Tillman's death

[joeunderdog]

Anyone see this piece? (probably not--it was on late night saturday)

Anyways, they pretty thoroughly detailed what happened, what was initially reported, what was later reported and what little disciplinary action had been taken. Apparently, the initial estimates of distance between Tillman and shooter got longer with each report as they tried to cover up. Tillman was reportedly loudly identifying himself within earshot of the shoter as he was killed. The soldier standing next to him at the time of the incident reported that Tillman had his "head blown off" as he told the shooter his full name, and that Tillman's voice gave way to the sound of his blood hitting the ground "like a faucet."

The incident was characterized by the Army as a lethal "mishap" and poor coordination by no less than 7 individuals who received only wrist-slaps for the incident. CNN exposed the 2 intial reports done by the Army as inadequate and contraditory, and emphasized that an investigation that is currently underway will deal with the inconsistencies of the stories, the fact that Tillman's uniform was burned ("it was a biohazard") and a cover-up (without actually calling it that) of the circumstances of the shooting. Any bets that Investigation #3 won't be another creative writing masterpiece?

The Army looked pretty bad in the lengthy segment on CNN, but there was no mention at all of the fact that at the time of his death, Tillman's War Hero status was to be spotlighted by an impending interview with Noam Chomsky who has a knack of exposing the dark side of war and politics. This was just the kind of interview BushCo might want its war heroes to avoid.

Overall, I thought the piece was very critical, although they did a good job of burying it in a time slot that most news watchers wouldn't be watching.

[babylonsister]

1. I saw parts of this yesterday afternoon; when I heard about

Tillman's blood on the guy beside him, and about his head, I felt nauseous, knowing 'friendly fire' led to his demise. :cry: News junkies probably did see it; it was good to see a critical piece, not just fluff which CNN is so good at.

[INDIA]

2. I saw it too...

It sounds like the 50 cal gunner lost his nerve and started spraying everything that moved. Also, the driver seemed to identify the Rangers and tried, (but failed) to stop the shooting. I think that the 50 cal gunner deserves court martial, possibly the others in the Hummvee too. It sounds like he lost all discipline.

These are Rangers too, they are supposedly the best trained in the Army. Should have known better.

Sounds like Tillman did everything in his power to identify himself, probably saved the life of the remaining Ranger.

[Last Stand]

3. Gotta wonder how guys with that (supposed) level skill could

make that kind of fundamental "mistake." Hard to believe the hand-crafted Army stories, from Jessica Lynch on down. If they lied about Tillman in the first place, what makes us believe Story #3?

:tinfoilhat: