When Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan seven years ago, the military wasn't exactly eager for it to come out that the former NFL player had fallen to friendly fire. "Cover-up" is not too strong a word for the disinformation campaign that Gen. Stanley MChrystal, then the commander of special operations in Afghanistan, participated in:
He signed off on a Silver Star citation that is worded quite misleadingly, noting how “Corporal Tillman put himself in the line of devastating enemy fire” and in the next sentence referencing how Tillman, “(w)hile mortally wounded”” demonstrated “audacious leadership and courageous example under fire...”
Now the retired general has been appointed by President Obama to chair a commission -- wait for it -- on military families. Pat Tillman's mother is understandably outraged:
Mary Tillman says McChrystal let her family agonize on a national stage for years for never helping them find out the truth about their son's death.
"He deliberately helped cover up Pat's death and he has never adequately apologized to us for doing that," she says. "General McChrystal knew we were actively looking for answers. No one contacted us to try to square with us what had happened."
The director of a documentary about Tillman put it this way:
“Putting Stanley McChrystal in charge of a commission on military families is a little like putting Bernie Madoff in charge of a commission on pensions,” said Bar-Lev.
That sums it up nicely. Stupid, inexcusable appointment.
