Tillman's Mother Still Upset with Army over His Death

Pat Tillman's mom is furious, and she's not afraid to let people know it.

The mother of the NFL-player-turned-Army-Ranger, who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, said Thursday that the Army's latest investigation into her son's death is a "sham."

"It's so humiliating and disrespectful," Mary Tillman told the New York Daily News. "It's one more example of the Army investigating itself. It was all done to glorify this war ... Pat deserves the truth."

(The Associated Press also reports some new details about Tillman's death. They include the rather disturbing revelation that, at one point, medical examiners felt that the bullet holes in Tillman's forehead were so close together that it appeared the bullets were fired from just 10 feet away. The Army even did a criminal investigation to see if Tillman "was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed." Tillman's death was ultimately ruled an accident.)

Army Secretary Pete Geren is not expected to recommend any criminal action in Tillman's death. He will likely urge that four generals and three others be reprimanded for "'critical errors' that misled the family and the nation into thinking Tillman was killed in combat in April 2004." Geren is expected to recommend that retired Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger be busted down to major general -- which will cost him about $900 a month off his pension.

But Mary Tillman isn't buying any of it. She says that Kensinger is just the "fall guy" and suggests that then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also knew the truth but hid the real facts so that her son's death could be used for war propaganda.

It's unlikely that Mary Tillman or her family will get the satisfaction they want from the Army. But the Army's "critical errors" in telling the truth also appear to have created a formidable opponent who will not let her son's death rest.

2:22 PM ET | 07-27-2007 | permalink