Pat Tillman Cover-Up `Brought Discredit on the Army'

Mar 26, 09:20 PM

Current Headlines: WASHINGTON _ Four generals and five other officers were involved in a plan to keep the nation in the dark on the friendly-fire death of football star-turned-soldier Pat Tillman, the Army said Monday.

The cover-up "brought discredit on the Army" _ and let the Tillman family go to his nationally televised funeral believing their son had died charging an enemy position, said acting Army Secretary Pete Geren.

"There simply are no words or actions that will make it right," said Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff.

Although the Army found they misled investigators and spread false information, the nine officers were not charged with criminal wrongdoing. The Army has ordered another review by a four-star general.

Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, the former head of the Army's Special Operations Command, met with the Tillman family at the funeral but said he believed "it was not the right time" to disclose details of the death, Army investigators said.

Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal allowed false information to be entered in the citation posthumously awarding the Silver Star to Tillman, the investigators said.

Geren said the Silver Star award would stand, but the citation would be rewritten. Geren said Tillman "died a hero" despite the discrepancies surrounding his death.

Tillman became possibly the most famous soldier in the Army when he gave up a $3.5 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist after Sept. 11.

He was killed April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan by a hail of machine-gun fire fired by members of his own Ranger platoon after the unit was split up in an operation to recover a damaged vehicle.

The two separate elements of the platoon couldn't maintain contact on their radios in the rugged terrain. Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, head of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, said Tillman's death was the result of "a failure to communicate."

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