Hearing on Tillman Fratricide: Holmes Norton’s Questions

The Oversight Committee holds a hearing, “The Tillman Fratricide: What the Leadership of the Defense Department Knew.” The hearing is part of an ongoing investigation and follows a previous hearing held in April. Witnesses will include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Former Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. John P. Abizaid (Retired), Former Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers (Retired), Former Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Gen. Bryan Douglas Brown (Retired). Gen. Kensinger has been served with a subpoena, but has not been able to be located over the past several days and will not appear. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton questions Secretary Rumsfeld on apparent gaps in his preparation to testify.

Video Transcript

thank you mister eisner i'd want to be clear for thatthe family askedthis committeeto investigate the circumstances of corporate almondsand that kevin tillman himself indicatedthat this hearing was no reflection upon the braveryall ofthis if you are on the no implicationshould be left that our continuing investigation had is anything but anattempt to do with his familyonce done ardent secretary outrun selfi've got you you have indicated i think quite eloquentlythat it's your responsibility onslaught in the military to tell the truth and iwant to make sure thisalso involves uncovering the truthparticularly in a delegation to the name of person elsewhereabout the weather you select deniability and reconstructingwhat you were told and women in responding to the inspector general inparticularyour lawyer bomand preparing a response to the defense to put d_o_d_ in inspector generaluh... said that usda junior staff member in your officeto help determineuh... when you learned that corporal tillman to deathuh... was a possible fratricide himthe contact the the staff of our committee then contacted that staffmember and he told us thatof placing a few phone callsdown the person who have been meeting with you in a meeting with you on maytwentiethtwo thousand fouruh... during which he said corporal tillman skates was mentionednap this person claimed that however that he was not the sourceof the information and cannot remember who wasthis does not sound likethe most thorough attempt to reconstructwhat you knew or what actions you tookduring our own investigation the committee staff talk with lieutenantgeneralthat he was your senior military assistance at the time in two thousandfourhe told us that he worked closely with youon a daily basis sometimes corpin touch with you many times a day but he saysthat your office never contacted him to askfor hisrecollection or documentsno i'm asking why did you not consult thisare close assistantof your ownone general craddock before responding to the attorney generalconcerning what you knew and when you knew itmy recollection of this is forclose to thatit was the i believe the last series of days i was in the departmentthere were a great many things going onthe inspector general astsome questionsand mycivilianassistantmister rendell as i recall uh...i said figure out if there's any way we can know when i was told cuz i don'trememberwhether and yet that senior military system might have been one way you mighthave knownheat he of course was go onhe was a remarkable try to keep them from being consultednothing to say that i'm i'm going to answer questionsthen check with some people and one of the individuals who said what you saidhe said they way that he was in a room when i was toldand uh... it was honor after he got back from iraq and that was this colonelbushes has been mentioned previouslybutwe were we were not asked what we recalls and recollected we were notaskedto undertake an investigation and go back and consulta series of peopleand find out the answer that was the job of the inspector general lucky i thinkhe said attorney general i think you missed by three o'clock in the effortand that was his job to do try to fashion all of that and he did any anyproduced a report and he said he felt that i won't hurt my responses workmethe was a pleasure he was trying to find out something very specificwhat you knew and when you do it in his job was that the question you want tofind outthe best of your ability what you would like you when you knew it in here wasyour senior military assistant one person we would expect that you canconsult when he was not consulted in a masking while i was not consulted byguess is there any number of people who were not consulted and i guess theanswer that question iswith one would have to ask the inspector general or ask mister rendellnot asking you because you don't get sultan sirno they asked me what i recall and i've told them what i recallat and and simply noting that he didn't didn't consult eight union member ofyour office but not the man who would have been most likely to developthe man who reported to you several times a day we didn't get salt is wellwith themister listed if we don't know director of communications and during this periodhad been in touch with the white house if you feel important to consult withhim before respondingtightening up instead of the junior member of my office i consulted with thesenior civilian assistant who's your principal assistantdefense along with your senior military assistancemister rangel was that individualis the one who then talk to people to find out and one of the people we talkedto was was colonel bootybut mister to read also was no longer in the departmentthere are any number of people one could have what we could havegoing to take my wrist was no longer in the department and and uh...and the there must bethirty twenty thirty people who were in the wrong people meeting were on thevery well have been informedbut buti was asked what i recall and i gave a very direct honest answer for thatmake is that correct understand it that the point we are making is when theinspector general in trying to find outsomething thatexperience they're very difficult for you yourself out of your ownconsciousness to have to remember to have consulted with those most likely tohave helped you remember buddha seem to be appropriate and uncovering the truththank youthank you mr

More Related Videos

ESPN Sports Century: Pat Tillman (part 4) 8:03
Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: Cummings' Question... 8:21
Pat Tillman Plays Flag 3:10
Hoover Dam bypass bridge 2:02
Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: Jessica Lynch's Op... 7:10
Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: Rep. Braley's Ques... 9:30
ESPN Sports Century: Pat Tillman (part 5) 8:37
New Hoover Dam Bridge (Between Nevada and Arizona) A Co... 7:20
Marie Tillman on "Finding Purpose" 1:21:19
The new bridge at the Hoover Dam 0:34
Firefight In Afghanistan-Death of Pat Tillman PART 2 9:41
Pat Tillman Story (Pat Tillman Foundation) 7:49
Pat Tillman gets inducted into the College Football Hal... 1:36
Hoover Dam Bypass Project - F&M MAFCO 5:05
Hearing on Tillman Fratricide: Cummings' Questions 8:04