Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: Rep. Braley’s Questions
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing entitled “Misleading Information from the Battlefield.” The hearing focuses on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. The Committee examines why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable. Rep. Bruce Braley questions whether edits were made to original reports about the incident that resulted in Tillman’s death.
Video Transcript
thank you very much mister clinton's
trip reallytake u_s_ specialist on the old thank
you for terry today in addition to beingan eyewitness to purple tillman stephan
reporting this incident up the chain ofcommandyou were also involved in writing a
statement that was used to work or puton the silver star to remember thatyes sirand now we are aware of serious
questions that have been raised as towhether someone tampered with your
statementlet me start by asking you whether you
remember the point in time where youwere asked to writedown your recollections of that dayhike in ceremonies at point in time
where allisonformed out of the writing up their
witness statementtowards what happened i'm just remember
having by putting surgeon at the timetell me thati was going to be running up a statement
on what happened reform award for patcan you give us some general time frame
and and the sequence of events whoyou've been discussing here today to
give us somecontext into one that request was made
by your platoon sergeanti would say uh... general time frame
probablythe twenty six or twenty seven thirty
fourwe've been tempted practically salerno
for a few days after pat was killedsoloists and as we got back to salerno
that's when i was advised or asked towrite a statement siri've been involvedin twenty three years of being an
attorney and having witnesses preparestatementwas this is a situation where they gave
you a sheet of paper told you to writedown in your own wordsyour best recollection of the events
that happened or did someone prepare astatement for you to review and signwhat happens here was as i got sat
behind a computerand i was told to type up my
recollection of what happenedproduct and as soon as i was done typing
i was relieved to go back to myprocessor now is the last i heard of itso when you finished tightening your
statementit was in a digital formatbut had not been printed at sac cracked
part of us are banded so no-one printedit out ask you to review it and various
ed and sign it at the time it wasoriginally drafted by uncertainso at any time did you ever sinein your handwritinga statement that you've had reviewed and
verify the authenticity aboutmegastarwhen i ask you about the statement that
was also versed are commendationthis version of the statement says the
followingquote corporal tillman moved us into a
position where we would be safe fromenemy roundsto the best of your recollectiondid you write this sentencelessons sounds like something i would
have routes are openand where were the enemy roundswe want a contract and your answer at
that timeby we moved into a position or if we
would have beenwe would've answered sircorporal tillmanshield you from enemy rounds anytimemake a certainthis version of the statement also says
that you quote engaged the enemyvery successfully end quotethat the enemy moved most of their
attention to your position which quotedrew a lot of fire from themdid you write the census claiming that
you were engaged with the enemynasrindo you know who made the changes to your
statement to make it appear is if youare receiving fire from the enemyrather than from your own puts himmister gamble the inspector general's
office investigated these outalterations to the witnesses' statements
and fight these differences as wellbut in the course of your investigation
did you ever discover who specificallychange this language and wide that
language was changedreligious fanaticism thesuck lessons a week at work or the
packets of infowe got the job jones investigationand they will not stand the desert
stamped his original signed and we areinvestors went back to uh... special
saluting the sorts of and so did youwrite the easilya lot of past that know that they did
not vote though that there was part ofit was an act of parts others were
enactedwe'd run able to determine whocommand actually did the uh... the after
operation though it's likely thatwondered people approved list of those
cyprus placed on the site must be inuh...battalion rajmohan joint our task force
commanders but they were accountable forthe uh...misstatements anak personsi havethen through my father service records
from when he served on iwo jimaand there are signatures on almost every
documentation of anything he did duringthe tire time he wasn't listedis that your understanding that this
practice of taking unsigned statementsin support of accommodation
recommendation is standard operatingprocedure within the armyi would not believe is that i would i
would point out that hopes to restorethey're actually does not have to do of
our slip and slide with some time thisoccurred it must be a citationwhat did you everdetermine the course of your
investigationcooladult all the possible people who had
contact with that statementwould have had the most likely person to
have made alterations tothe statement originally prepared by
specialist on the hilli said no we don't we cannot determine
that wei could not to speculate that this pro
prefer not to this is somewhere in theuh... approval chainthe gap an attitudeand nothe uh...so we're we're really kicktelephones to the actualwho did the keyboard changes on itso that looked as though you know route
the only actually had a close when yousigned up on some thought i would likelast time something offer some similar
as possible before they actuallyand i've held myself accountable so when
you have the signatures on those suckersand and and uh... recommendationsthey become accountable for it as part
of your investigation did you arebringing ninety specialist to look at
the hard drive on that computer or anyother computer that that document has
beenplacedof a determined whopat acts of the computer industry
support for the operation we get this isa hard copy prone out on the part of the
art of investigative package from thegeorgians investigationso did you ever determine the computers
that it had been onwho had accessno no we did notdo you think that would be sensible
follow part of an investigation lookinginto who might have been responsible for
altering a document of this magnitudethey detected thing but could the youngthe issue date it was two years before
end in failure and we werei'm not sure if they were tracked
computer download dor we wouldn't know that unless we
actually try to track it down quicklyspecial sonya i want to give you the
opportunity to follow up on a responseyou're making in regard in response to
mister waxmanand he had to get a cut you off to keep
the hearing moving butyou were talking about after the
shooting now whether or not purplethomann was dead of immediately and then
you had to stop your narrative affectwould youcontinue with your narrative of what you
were saying at the past cat prancearoundy hasta la femmeat the time i was on the groundand uh... i noticed blood cleanup around
meand at that time i had thought that i
was shockedsettlementi started communicating with pat not
realizing he had passed away ac asking ahectic asking him if he had dental careand donaldi had no response anddeployed wasthey're all there was a lot of blood
everywhere and i was starting to ouraccurately worried soldfinally demobilize to movei stood up in turn around and look at
thatand he was sworn to back on the ground
are covered in bloodand i want opposition i'd grab himand uh...realize at that time that he had been
shot my headthere wasn't much like themuh...after that i kind of uh...camp blanked out really next thing i
remember was uh...surgeon ward who was part of third
squander telling me to pick up my helmetwho'd like to meet remember taking it
offputting me on security to be meeting you
know to move out of the original in thatwe're inand uh... i'd just have broad chunks
more memory warwill come back and we'll go awaybasicallythat's the end of the night when i'm
standing on the side of a building pointsecurityand uh... the regimental sergeant major
sharma jim first comes up to me andasked me for my rightand after that next thing i rememberthese federal point to carry on that
will pull uppersonaland telling special stereo a backpack
had been killed by friendly fire sirthank you uh...bailey mystical
Tiffany, Chrissy and Jack all ran in the 8th annual Pat's Run in Tempe, AZ. Then Bryce and Mason ran their hearts out in the Kid's Run shortly after. After a quick pit stop at home we were back out for some more fun. Bryce and his little league team joined hundreds of other little leaguers as they walked around the field at Chase Field. Then we watched as the Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Atlanta Braves for the third straight night. And lastly I head to my brother's house for some dinner and fun but find myself in a little trouble.
Day 21 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8oNJb0n4c
Day 23 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fShQaj58vMA
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Marie Tillman and Darnell Dockett invite you to help our veterans and their families continue their education and return to work.
Text TILLMAN to 50555 to make a $10 donation to the Tillman Military Scholars program today.
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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. Chairman Waxman questions witnesses on a memo he received early on indicating that it was likely a case of fratricide.
Through remarks and conversation with Tillman Military Scholars from the Harvard community, Marie shared her own story, and offered insight on how to translate moments of personal tragedy, adversity, and reflection into catalysts for positive social change.
A tribute video to the late Pat Tillman, former defensive player for Arizona State and the Arizona Cardinals, who gave his life in service to our country in the fight on terror in Afghanistan.
At his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Lt. Gen Stanley McChrystal told the Senate Armed Services Committee that mistakes were made in the military's handling of the accidental shooting death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. (June 2)
Tillman Military Scholars Richard Garcia, Melissa Stroh, Aaron and Bonnie Contreras. Highlights from the 6th annual Pat's Run held Saturday, April 17, 2010 at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium.
Feature and coverage courtesy of Fox Sports Arizona.
Pat Tillman was a professional football player with the Arizona Cardinals.
In response to the September 11, 2001 incident, he passed up a $3.6 million contract and joined the Army. His sacrifice became made him a symbol of patriotism and a poster child for Army recruiters.
Pat Tillman came to his senses and turned against the wars. Through friends and family, he made contact with anti-war icon Noam Chomsky.
Perhaps Tillman was ready to make a public statement of opposition to the wars, which would have been a public relations catastrophe for the Army. We will never know. Perhaps the Army knew he was going to go public with a statement of opposition. We will never know.
Pat Tillman took three bullets through the head on April 22, 2004. He was shot at close range by his own men while on paatrol in Afghanistan.
A massive coverup followed, in which the public was told that Tillman had been killed by hostile fire. He was awarded the Silver star. The conspiracy to deceive Tillman's grieving family and the public went to the highest levels of the Army, and centered on one Lt. General Stanley McChrystal.
Eventually, the fraud was exposed, and a half-hearted congressional investigation followed.
Pat Tillman is still dead. His mother, Mary Tillman, still grieves. Lt. General Stanley McChrystal was promoted to supreme commander of the Afghan theater.
What's next? Tillman Military Scholar Dennis Robinson's take on the legacy of Pat Tillman. "Let's us, in the spirit of Pat Tillman, do something unconventional."
"... I don't think they are very honorable people. I know they were lying. I mean, and I think that -- you know, like, you know, Pat and I are talking about, you know, we feel that there could have been something else that happened to Pat but -- I mean, we can't prove it. Every bit of evidence has been destroyed. ... Rumsfeld, Abizaid, Myers and Brown collectively said, 'I don't know, I don't recall, I don't remember' about 82 times and no one on that panel pressed them. No one did their research. Neither faction of that committee." -- Pat Tillman's mother Mary on Larry King Live
Check it out: http://www.tillmanstory.com/
Not the only ones hungry for justice at http://www.michaelmoore.com
