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Pentagon malfeasance

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published March 29, 2007

Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan was supposed to symbolize all that is heroic and virtuous about the war against terrorism. A patriotic athlete with the chiseled good looks of GI Joe gives up a lucrative career in the NFL to fight and die for his country, and is posthumously awarded a Silver Star for valor in the face of the enemy. Tillman has become a symbol all right, though not the kind the military had manufactured.

On Monday, a Pentagon report confirmed that not only was Tillman killed by fellow soldiers in a chaotic incident of friendly fire, but that nine officers, including four generals, failed to investigate the death properly or lied about the circumstances. While the military will not rescind the Silver Star, it will reword the citation.

Tillman's family has been understandably critical of the way the Pentagon handled the investigation into their son's death. They were particularly angered by the report's conclusion that a "series of mistakes" had occurred, but not a coverup.

In an open letter, the family blasted the report: "The characterization of criminal negligence, professional misconduct, battlefield incompetence, concealment and destruction of evidence, deliberate deception, and conspiracy to deceive are not 'missteps.' These actions are malfeasance."

Tillman's family also recognized how his death had been exploited by the military. "No one who knew Pat ever doubted his physical or moral courage. But the award of the Silver Star appears more than anything to be part of a cynical design to conceal the real events from the family and the public, while exploiting the death of our beloved Pat as a recruitment poster."

In fact, the symbols of Pentagon malfeasance and exploitation under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld keep adding up: inadequate body armor, Abu Ghraib prison, an unrecognized Iraqi civil war, overextended tours of duty, neglect at Walter Reed hospital. Add to that a failure to admit the Tillman coverup and a slap on the wrist, as his family called it, for those responsible.

The only way now to get to the truth behind Pat Tillman's death, and hopefully regain some public trust, is a full congressional hearing.

[Last modified March 29, 2007, 01:46:22]