Mary Tillman discussing Pat’s death ~ ESPN/Jim Rome
Mary Tillman discussing her son’s death & the Bush/Rummy military cover-up for political gain on ESPN/Jim Rome
Video Transcript
pets hillmaninordinately lost his lifebecause he wanted to make a difference
everybody else is askingwise life storybright smilescruising down to the ground clinging to
go through the rangerstogethernobody askedbernardsend jealouswhat's wrongback my guest is the mother pat tillman
she is also the author of the book isentitledpolice on the ground by just like to be
two pats on the ninety one right now bymary tell me mary says that the other
program are youi'm fine thank you thanks for having me
absolutelythere and know that you an intensely
private person i would have to thinkthat writing a book was probably the
furthest thing from your mindwhat motivated you to do sowell the motivation was really the fact
that the public seem tennis understand alot of the reasons that we've been
pushing so hardto get accountability and so i felt it
was importantto cut everything down so people would
understand and also to do you know tocut down our story so either families
who are in the same position we've beeninwould feel maybe someone validatedbefore we talk more about what happened
or what may not happentalk from it about pat give us an idea
what was pat likewellheadyou know pat was a really annan fine and
these ng percent i mean he was alwaysvery curious in inquisitive tenaciousphysicalyou know but is he got older he really
had it a desire to be a better personand near to try to make the right
decisions in his lifedonto benefit himself into the people
around himpaneer so your family was told that he
died heroically in a fire fight andseveral weeks later you found outthere was a result of friendly fire when
you found out that what did you thinkonly first heard about the friendly-fire
you know be very very sad and it was sotragic but you know friendly fire is a
part of war and that was something wevery much understoodyou know we heard it on the story of the
fratricide situation and then threeweeks later we went to fort lewis to get
an official briefing of what happenedand those stories are so drastically
different one crucial information whohad been changed and that we became very
suspiciousand that's when we started asking a lot
of questions so in your opinion why wasa military not straightforward enough
wrong with you in the familywell i think that part of the reason
ways for one meter the ranger regimentwould've been very very grossly
embarrassed actually because of thegross negligencethem with respect to the soldiers they
think they killed packand also if they're deadirresponsible orders have gone they came
from a tactical operations centerbut i also believe because this was the
month of april two thousand four theother great prison scandal broke the
week that pat was killed one pollutionwas in chaospresident bush's approval rating was
very weak and the most cats do the wartaken place at thatthat monthso i think that all of those things were
so embarrassing comin tragicthat the administration and the military
wanting to use pat step to deflectpublic attention away from those thingsand to use pad as a propaganda toolto rally support for the war in iraqthey all that saidhow did that make you and your family
feelwell itit's grotesque is for a test that any
soldier on me you know is used in anyfashionto promote to promote the war or too you
know to deflect attention away fromsomethingi think that onyou know pat was a very honest person he
had a lot of integrity he enlisted ondat you know i had a lot of country as
do all soldiers and i think that youknow they've been disrespect that he was
shownon deserves to be there for you knowthe people who did that deserve to have
they looked into entered be heldaccountable for it he'll be seen as sort
of accountability nears anybody takeresponsibility to the except you like to
seenow not at all the army is apologize of
course they'll apologize for mistakesyou know missteps in errors but the
congressional oversight committee hasalready deemed that pat's death was a
deliberate cover upanti don't see anyone being held
accountableaccountable for that no one has
apologized for the uh... shoulderliberate deception and they should be
they should be held accountableso it's a deliberate cover up how high
up do you think that goesi personally believe that one is highest
donald rumsfeld how much the presidentknew or didn't know i'm not certain of
that but i'm pretty certainand that i'm very certain that that
donald rumsfeld was aware of thecover-up and in fact probablyinitiated itpitch it's just speak with him right now
what would you say to himwhile i would just would one hinted to
come forth and sit with the truth nambut i don't believe the best possible i
believe that you know the someone isgoing to have touncover the truth i don't think that he
is going to be forthcomingwith what happens but he was that you
know pat was very much in his radar andheated indicated today the deputy
secretary are mediated a certain pointthat hedot pat was a very special individual
and think that military she keep an eyeon himso it's ludicrous to think that he was
not told and immediately the palacekilled by friendly fire so he had to
have ninety had to be unaware of thecover upmary you've heard this criticism before
budetti or a committee why does thefamily kipushing why did mary tilma need to write
this book why did they not let it go themilitary's already apologized what were
you looking for how do you respond thatwell as i just sat they've apologized
for making mistakes this is not amistakethis is an a deliberate attempt to cover
up what happened to pat and they went togross measures to do that they destroyed
his uniformthey try to convince the ifirst
investigate what they did convince thefirst investigative officernot to tell the medical examiner pat was
killed by friendly firebut the medical examiner in the corner
could tell by pat saloon patternthat he was indeed not killed by the
enemyso they've refused to sign yacht party
so they administration and the militarywere forced to tell us the truththis this is that this is absolutely a
heinous thing they didand i think it's sad that the public
doesn't see thatbut unfortunately the last eight years
that we've been lied to so much by thisadministrationthat people are someone nam two things
that are really very outrageousfamily ascii was writing the book
starting anywayor do just open up these wounds few all
over againwell i've been working on the book for
quite a while and the last twelve youknow if i worked on it for a year in
three monthsbut before that i was you know looking
into the investigation looking at allthe reports that are received from the
militaryso i'd be sort of been is constant it
but i think that writing the book hasbeen very helpful on actually and i
think that you know we are a resultfamily are moving on quitequite well pat was a wonderful man we
have that to to look to but this is aresponsibility i think we haveyou put forth what happen to us so other
peopleyou know the public individuals can read
it and see what you know the militarythe government actually did and i also
have examples of you know five othersoldiers in the bookwhose families rely to a lot about the
way they died and that is just notacceptable man mary tillman joining usperry thank you so much appreciate on
good luckthank you very much thank you
Sun Devil student-athletes volunteered went to downtown Phoenix to volunteer for the 2011 Race for the Cure. The women's basketball team, several football players and the entire student-athlete freshman class manned a water station while the softball team ran in this special and important event.
Pat's Run, scheduled to take place on April 21, has officially sold out. Are you participating in the event? We'd like to hear from you and even talk to you on camera after the race. Visit us at houseofsparky.com or hit us up on to let us know you're interested.
"BE INSPIRED | GIVE BACK | RUN WALK HONOR
Pat's Run is the signature fundraising event for the Pat Tillman Foundation. Held annually in April at Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium, the event attracts over 30,000 participants, volunteers and spectators from across the country. Together, they Run, Walk and Honor Pat's legacy while raising important funds to support the programs created to pay tribute to his commitment to leadership and service.
The 4.2 mile course winds through the streets of Tempe and is staged so that all participants finish on the 42-yard line on Frank Kush Field inside Sun Devil Stadium, symbolic of the #42 jersey that Pat wore while he was a Sun Devil.
Proceeds from Pat's Run directly support the Tillman Military Scholars program."
http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/pats-run/
Associate Athletic Director Jean Boyd at ASU's Office of Student-Athlete Development (OSAD) discusses the importance of sustained recognition in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR) annual reports and the balanced culture of athletics that has allowed many student-athletes at Arizona State to become successful graduates. ASU's women's tennis team has been ranked among the nation's top 10-percent in each year that the APR measurement has been in existence. Produced by Jen Jaeckels. Edited by Chakris Kussalanant for ASU News.
FOOTBALL PLAYERS FROM THE ASU FOOTBALL SUN DEVIL TEAM PAID A VISIT TO THE SICK AT SUNRISE HOSPITAL IN LAS VEGAS. THEY ARE IN LAS VEGAS FOR THE MAACO LAS VEGAS BOWL
A story on Pat's Run, which was held on April 18 in Tempe, Arizona. The story first aired on FOX Sports Arizona's "Miller Lite Diamondbacks Live" on April 20.
