Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman, who played defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals, is killed by friendly fire near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in April 2004. The Defense Department is investigating allegations of a cover-up, including failure by the U.S. Army to tell Tillman’s family for several weeks that he had been killed by gunfire from his fellow Army Rangers, not by enemy fire as they initially were told.1
March 27, 2007; Washington, DC ? Mary Tillman, mother of deceased Army Ranger Pat Tillman, says she is not satisfied with a Pentagon report released yesterday about the friendly-fire death of her son. In an interview airing this morning on NPR News? Morning Edition, Ms. Tillman rejected the Pentagon?s findings.2
Mary Tillman has been a model of patience and fortitude as she doggedly pursues the facts concerning her son Pat’s death in Afghanistan two years ago. In that spirit, she welcomed as positive the news that the Pentagon’s inspector general has asked the Army to launch an investigation into whether criminal negligence was involved in the “friendly fire” incident that resulted in the death of her football-star son who turned soldier.3
Warrick Dunn of the Atlanta Falcons (front) and Larry Izzo of the New England Patriots toss autographed footballs to members of the coalition in Afghanistan prior to the opening of the Pat Tillman USO Center April 3 at Bagram Air Base. The center is named in honor of former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, who was killed in eastern Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.4