Segment on MSNBS asking if Pat Tillman’s death was a cover up.
Video Transcript
welcome back to hardball don rumsfeld
was in the hot seat on capitol hilltoday over the death of army ranger pat
tillman and at the heart of the questionwas whether the former defense secretary
tried to cover up the circumstancessurrounding corporal tillman suggest
take a looki have not been involved in any cover-up
whatsoever and i don't believe thisindividual at this table rhino will
observe the close quartersand very difficult situations to any
role in a cover-upis french all telling the truth or was
he involved in the pentagon cover-up ofchildren's deathcivil war veterans join us tonightjohn salt served in iraq in two thousand
and three in his co-founder and chairmanof vote that's dot organd eric eglin served in both iraq and
afghanistan and as a member of that'sfor freedomgentleman i don't know whether you heard
colonel jack jacobs on the segment justbefore thisbut it's his opinionthat there was no real cover-up at the
top of the souzas morpha tactical screw up on the groundthat resulted in purple tillman getting
then killed by friendly fire what shoesyou conspiracy at the topor just a tactical threw up on the
ground ericuh... i i agree with that he knows more
than just a screw up on the groundthere was clearly some malfeasance uh...
in in terms of sharing incorrectinformation i have a close friend who is
a ranger in afghanistan at the time isand i remember in sunny day this is only
in terms of the information we sharedfrom the guys on the front but one sec
information went forward eaten when thedefense department to share not because
they thought it was truthful so that'swhy it's appropriate to fraction of
those guys were up for work we're tryingto put it on sector rumsfeld doesn't
make any sense john what's your view ithink the whole thing was absolutely
disgusting you know we know it's not asnormalone of our soldiers is killed by one of
the family cancerif this administration can come clean
and tell me retirement and it's on thefamily would have their son they've hurt
the marchers and her children to stressthe integrity of our situation when a
three-star a four-star general shows upat a funeral jump ttenzing arnie gives a
source for the family photos thatsoldier was killed by friendly fire it's
misleading or just the two are entirecountry when a new report comes out
that's corner felt that he was killedwas in ten years there's a big problem
in the bankers are going to get a billthat said or sour petition over five
thousand people tell the presidentyou don't need a number of executive
privilege hereyou need to be the commander in chief
you need to help the military out herewill tell the family and our troops what
happenedto cattlemencharacter you know i mean that the
silver star citation in a bullet is abulletin in incorporates all newclearly was acting on removing
courageouslyand yet the idea that this information
is relayed back to washington withinwithin a few days perhaps weeks
certainlyand that was still talking about this
and that there are still questionslingering out there about thisthis does not smack well for the
pentagon for former secretary runs fromfr anybody involved in thiswell certainly i mean it's it's a it if
it happened terriblybut but that if they want some
information comes from the field did thepeople in the pentagon you know did with
what they would do based on assumingthat information was truthful it turns
out it was not so uh... i mean i thinkthey did the right thing i wanted to
know you several weeks later he this wasfriendly fire this was not what a claim
to be they they did what they should beable to launch an investigation and now
these generals are being are being hungout to to pay the price which they
should be able to look at just do apolitical knee-jerk reaction say blame
rumsfeld every time some goes wrongwithin the entire multimillion person
department of defense it's totallysterling unacceptable search around so i
was a certain sense the president of theunited states is the commander-in-chiefif the investigation of the prop of the
first time we would never stop atsomeone's job and the fireif the investigations down all the
second time we would have thought thatsome of those killed more than fifty
meters away and our finding out thisweek pat salomon was killed according to
the corner of a lot of the body from tenmeters away so where the tax year the
president needs to know how to buildexecutive privilege in the eyes of the
american public let's put this in alarger context april two thousand four
was the totally rocks on the streetmalicious rose up in iraq in the body
army we had to extend the first armydivision for twelve months fifteen
months between george bush retreatedfrom pollution when the marines got down
at the stake and wouldn't go back in theblue took six months because of his
re-election bid it's at the height ofthe aba grade scandal and the
politicians in the president they knewthe hero nature's path so many that's
unfortunate because they missed led ourcountry time or they tried to justify
political support for the soldier it'sterribly unfortunate to use the devil
american soldier for your own partisanpolitical gain how do you expect a
recruiter to walk into the homes of themothers and fathers nesler's son or
daughter to fight and you are allamericans should do which is serve our
country when the parent can look back atour recruiters and they can save watch
my son or daughter fight for a presidentwho's going to use their death for
political support he really hasn't yet ithink that's a that's a hyper spinningview how do you know i poured on this
trip absolutely nuts absolutely it'scrazy to say that if you are you putting
down why don't you put it as it is allabout and what a great and there are no
i think they have eithersoldier that's how i i don't really set
on you just made your statement and ithink you're spinning your reportfor your own political out and i think
that's wrong his marriage and the lasttime goes wrong married someone all the
facts of the death of her sonabsolutely not has won a raffle worry
because the white house representativeas requested by the house you'll know
you know there are less it's absolutesaid i want you know i would expect
somebody like him and you know i wouldexpect somebody like you to hear more
about a soldier who fought for thiscountry and the president i state is a
partisan politician are absolutelysecara journalist worker can decide when
eric political who need it you'll comeout of the the paper partisan spin soonand i just look at the facts but there
were wrong information was transmittedfrom the commanders on the groundthey're being held accountable once once
you have something that goes wrong likethat intentionally in this case it takes
a long time to figure it out becauseeveryone starts covering their tracks
and and misleading in different areasbut they say that every time something
goes wrong in this was a terrible thingto say because i don't think we ought to
afire the president in a sec death everytime someone they're going to homogenize
wasn't apologized to one of these againand she really does work for political
purposes not spots on further work veryhard for your money out there that once
the truth about what her son was killedserving our country of workcaroline investigation bear that out and
i thought it would be remiss we weremisleadingthey need to be held accountable and
they are will erica like everybody hasdeveloped a simple response to that last
statement it's justsitting here watching the testimony late
today it struck me as a rather unusualwith the chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff of the time general myerswho'll call ten tillman wise everyone
was aware of who he wantsshirt it was a lot of stuff written
about him joining the listing becoming arange of fighting in afghanistan and for
him to treat the death in the knowledgethat he died with of from friendly-fire
in such a cavalier manner as he didtoday in his testimonyi don't buy it i don't think many people
do but how do you wantwell i think it comes down to the basicsacts that the commanders on the ground
said things that were not true and thenonce that filtered up the chain of
command the chief u_n_ reacted and thenonce they found out that said that there
was not true then based launch aninvestigation and that's what's created
this whole mess in the first place but iwould like to say but once they set up
the investigation you can hold themresponsible for the initial mine eyes on
the white wine or is the chain ofcommand because they are taking
responsible action when you find i meani've been to manager john has been
responsible for people to know when youfind outsomething has gone wrong in in your
scope responsibilityit's your job you investigated so it's
and then that doesn't mean you'reautomatically held responsible diversity
or starsthose four stars on general irish
shouldered meansteams in charge he's responsible he's
accountable it's thought that chain ofcommand post here i've been there before
argument but your whole argument isbasically saying sono one beneath him can ever do anything
wrong that merits a smallish argument sothat we fell out of our own irreversible
we still have the facts in this casethe quarter report just came out on
saturdaythis guy was shop in ten years away the
president is invoking executiveprivilege here is that this is the
alberto gonzalez's case there is a deadamerican soldier his family deserves the
truth we know it is officers sweet rightto mothers and wives and husband and
ours and we said your son or daughterplot i believe that this is how they
died i was in iraq we have similarscenarios of fratricide is not one there
wasbut what i was personally aware of a
situation where there was a cover up thebattalion commander flew back to the
states and told the family what happenedwhy can't the commander in chief your
stand up and be the commander in chiefuse leaving and either because he will
use zero president quality andresponsibility as a battalion cadetare solidly as well as a managing
executive privilege to someone in ourmeeting in new orleans is redundant or
is it was not given us a little impacton time so i'll have to provide sold
saturday when i when i thank you bothvery much and thank you both very much
for users to recognize thank you
This ESPN Sports Century biography on Pat Tillman is divided into six parts. I think this aired in 2005. For updated information, read "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman" by Mary Tillman http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Ground-Dusk-Tribute-Tillman/dp/1594868808 and "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522266/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594868808&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R1ZC333SDPTXNBP09RW
This ESPN Sports Century biography on Pat Tillman is divided into six parts. I think this aired in 2005. For updated information, read "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman" by Mary Tillman http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Ground-Dusk-Tribute-Tillman/dp/1594868808 and "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522266/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594868808&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R1ZC333SDPTXNBP09RW
Construction of the Colorado River Bridge is advancing on the 1,060 foot twin-rib concrete arch. The Colorado River Bridge is the central portion of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. Construction on the nearly 2,000 foot long bridge began in late January 2005 and the completion of the entire Hoover Dam Bypass Project is expected in Late 2010.
ESPN Nov 2009 - Marie Tillman, the wife of former Arizona cardinal and Army Ranger Pat Tillman, speaks for the first time since her husband's death from friendly fire.
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. Specialist Patrick Tillman's brother Kevin Tillman gives opening remarks.
Professional football player Pat Tillman joined the Army after 9/11 and was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire during a gun battle. But as Erica Hill reports, the story told by the government was quite different.
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.
BAR-LEV: There's a sense that this is a story that is over. That this is something we look back on about the Bush administration. In fact, this is a story that continues to this day. Nobody's ever been called to account for their actions...This was a deliberate attempt to cover up the facts.
Paying attention to the neverending story at
http://www.michaelmoore.com
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. Rep. Carolyn Maloney questions witnesses.
This ESPN Sports Century biography on Pat Tillman is divided into six parts. I think this aired in 2005. For updated information, read "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman" by Mary Tillman http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Ground-Dusk-Tribute-Tillman/dp/1594868808 and "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522266/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594868808&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R1ZC333SDPTXNBP09RW
