Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Politics

Tillman inquiry says hold 9 accountable

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 24, 2007

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 told the Associated Press on Friday.

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

The official, who like the others requested anonymity because the Army has not publicly released the information, said it appears senior military leaders may not have had all the facts or worked hard enough to get the facts about what happened on April 22, 2004, when Tillman, a corporal, was killed by members of his own platoon.

Dozens of soldiers knew within minutes or hours that his death was fratricide. Even so, the Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush. It was five weeks before his family was told the truth, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes.

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.

Nixon knew within about two days that Tillman's death was fratricide, another officer involved in the investigations told the AP on condition of anonymity.

Tillman's father, Pat, indicated Friday he would comment later.

To date, the Army has punished seven people, but no one was court-martialed.

[Last modified March 24, 2007, 02:12:17]