Officers Blamed For Tillman Case Errors

[Blackadder1916]

Officers Blamed For Tillman Case Errors
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4657394.html

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer March 23, 2007, 8:17PM

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon investigation will recommend that nine officers, including up to four generals, be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, senior defense officials said Friday.

The Defense Department inspector general will cite a range of missteps and inappropriate conduct as the military probed the former football star's death on the battlefront in 2004, said one defense official.

The official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it appears that senior military leaders may not have had all the facts or worked hard enough to get the facts of what happened on that day in April 2004.

The Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush at least 11 days after the death, at his nationally televised memorial service — when dozens of soldiers knew that was not the case.

Many soldiers — those immediately around Tillman at the scene of the shooting, his immediate superiors and high-ranking officers at a command post nearby — knew within minutes or hours that his death was caused by friendly fire. The inspector general's investigation has focused on how high up the chain of command that knowledge went.

Officers from the rank of colonel and up will be blamed in the report, according to one officer who has been informed of the findings.

The commander of Tillman's 75th Ranger Regiment was Col. James C. Nixon. Last year he was named director of operations at the Center for Special Operations at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

According to the officials, the report will not make charges or suggest punishments, but it will recommend the Army look at holding the nine officers accountable.

The Army, which requested the inspector general review last year, said in a statement released Friday that it "plans to take appropriate actions after receiving the inspector general's report."

The inspector general is expected to release the report Monday, and also speak to Tillman's family about the results of the investigation.

The report's findings were first reported on Friday by CBS News.

 

[tomahawk6]

I suspect that the officers in question will soon be retiring.

 

[Trip_Wire]

I suspect that the officers in question will soon be retiring.

Yes! I think you are right on!  ;D 

 

[Blackadder1916]

Military: Errors Made In Tillman's Death
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070327/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/tillman_friendly_fire

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer  March 26, 2007

Nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL player, the military concluded Monday.

In releasing a pair of reports on the 2004 killing, however, defense officials did not rule out that criminal violations may have been committed by officers who provided misleading information as the military investigated the killing. While saying they believed there was no orchestrated cover-up, they left the decision on whether crimes occurred to the Army.

Tillman's family said it was not satisfied by what it called an "attempt to impose closure by slapping the wrists of a few officers and enlisted men." The family called for congressional hearings on his death.

"Once again, we are being used as props in a Pentagon public relations exercise," Tillman's mother, Mary, said in a prepared statement Monday evening.

Army and Defense Department investigators said officers looking into Tillman's death passed along misleading and inaccurate information and delayed reporting their belief that Tillman was killed by fellow Rangers.

The investigators recommended that the Army take action against the officers, but suggested no specific punishments and left it to the Army to decide what to do. Possible steps could include demotions, dishonorable discharges, jail or letters of reprimand.

Acting Army Secretary Peter Geren has asked Gen. William Wallace, who oversees training for the Army, to review the actions of the officers and to provide a progress report in 30 days. The Army will take corrective action and hold people accountable, said Geren, who also issued an apology.

"We as an Army failed in our duty to the Tillman family, the duty we owe to all the families of our fallen soldiers: Give them the truth, the best we know it, as fast as we can," Geren told reporters at the Pentagon.
"Our failure in fulfilling this duty brought discredit to the Army and compounded the grief suffered by the Tillman family. For that, on behalf of the Army, I apologize to the Tillman family."

Using photographs, charts and a video reenactment of the day's events, investigators at the Pentagon walked reporters through a minute-by-minute accounting of Tillman's death in the rocky Afghanistan hills on April 22, 2004.

The sometimes gruesome briefing described Tillman's frantic efforts to signal the shooters to stop the firing. Brig. Gen. Rodney L. Johnson of the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation found no basis to believe the shooting was criminal.

"We determined that neither a negligent homicide or aggravated assault occurred in the shooting deaths and woundings of Corporal Tillman and the others," Johnson said. "The manner of death was accidental." An Afghan fighter with Tillman was killed and two other U.S. soldiers were wounded.

Though dozens of soldiers knew quickly that Tillman had been killed by his fellow troops, the Army said initially that he was killed by enemy gunfire when he led his team to help another group of ambushed soldiers. It was five weeks before his family was told the truth, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes.

"We thought there was never an attempt to cover up that we saw," Defense Department Acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble said during a Pentagon briefing as the military released two reports, one by the Army Criminal Investigation Command and the other by the inspector general.

Tillman's death received worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Coming under the heaviest criticism was Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, the now-retired three-star general who was in charge of Army special operations.

"We found compelling evidence that (Lt. Gen.) Kensinger learned of suspected fratricide well before the memorial service and provided misleading testimony" on that issue, the report said. That misrepresentation, the report said, could be a violation of the Military Code of Justice.

The Army was still saying Tillman had been killed in a conventional ambush at a nationally televised memorial service for him 11 days after his death.

The report also noted that Kensinger later misled investigators when asked when he first learned Tillman's death was from friendly fire.

The highest current ranking officer blamed in the incident is Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Investigators said he was "accountable for the inaccurate and misleading assertions" contained in papers recommending that Tillman get a Silver Star award.

The inspector general's report also faulted Brig. Gen. Gary Jones and now-Brig. Gen. James C. Nixon.

Jones, now retired from the Army, led one of the previous Army investigations of the matter. The report faulted him for failing to address several issues in his probe.

"Those deficiencies contributed to lingering speculation that Army officials were concealing relevant information concerning Cpl. Tillman's deaths," the report said.

It criticized Nixon, who was Tillman's regimental commander, for failing to ensure that Tillman's family was told that friendly fire was suspected, as Army regulations at the time required. Nixon is now director of operations at the Center for Special Operations at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

Of the nine officers the military said would be "held accountable," only the four generals — McChrystal, Kensinger, Nixon and Jones — are identified in the report.

The names of the five others were blacked out because of the military's privacy policy, said Gimble.

According to a comparison of the report with documents the AP has examined previously, two of them are then-Capt. Richard Scott, appointed to conduct the first investigation, and then-Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who conducted the second.

The report blames both men for failing to visit the scene of the shooting, secure evidence, take photos, obtain measurements and interview all witnesses.

Also, then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey, the battalion commander who oversaw Tillman's platoon, is held accountable for the "inaccurate award recommendation" that led to Tillman's Silver Star. Bailey recommended Tillman for the award, officials told the AP.

The inspector general investigation recommended that the Army review its award of the Silver Star to Tillman, but Geren said the award would stand.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush, like Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has "very serious concerns" about the events surrounding Tillman's death, his family's notification and the performance of military personnel.
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Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Pauline Jelinek in Washington and Scott Lindlaw in San Jose, Calif., contributed to this story.

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