During the April 24, 2007 “battlefield misinformation” hearing held by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Army Specialist Bryan O’Neal describes Pat Tillman’s April 2004 death in Afghanistan by “friendly fire.”
Video Transcript
plus in your own words what happened
right before and after corporal tillmanwas killedwalk us through this is uh... as much
detail as you can recallwhat was corporal tillman doing at the
time was he trying to signalthat uh...that uh... this might be friendly fire
resistant with his arms was yelling whatwas he saying could you just tell us
about ityes rowdywhen we've moved into our final positionat night in the afghan militiamen had
decided there was decided that we willcontinue to assaultand he wanted further tightenings from
swine leader that was controllingelementso he left myself an air mattressand when he returnedhe basically let me know that we were
going to continue moving group in theroute that we wereand before he was able to finish telling
you what our plan waswe have started to receive fire from
g_n_p_at first it was short sporadic we didn't
really i don't really understand what'shappeningi looked and saw that it was friendly
fire coming towards usuh... pat asked me basically what was
going on and i let him knowand uh... it didn't take too long before
those in the g_n_p_course about that but i'mthis mound and open up on us with the
fifty caliber machine gun and the twoforty bravo machine gunand basically shot us at us anyways of
bursts of roundsat that timei felt myself become waveguidejot downhad no copper pat and there was nothing
blocking my side chainthe people at home be shooting at usuntil the pack had basically was able to
get himself behind some coversbut it was not muchno basicallywas yelling waving from on the ground as
much as i could and i believe pat wastoo at the time peaches behind metalking to and yelling screamingprinter was going on whenhe told me he had a planat that time i thought depend on flyer
now to signal the troops down and angieand be aware families but later
discovered he had puff of smoke grenadeandafter he had done that's the firing
ceased in the trucksoldwe had both leaves at that time vatshootings overand that they had recognize this is from
his andwe both step upface each otherwas kind of wondering hey what has
happened there what was actionuh... lucklywe're both still alivealoneit didn't take long after that served
four daymoved into a better position as i said
uh... commission v and started shootingat us againand at that timeport of us had gotten downi was watching them do that andi could hear pat calling stock shooting
on pat haven't ehlmannstop shootingyou know over and over and over again
andi could hear the payment yet news for usso i known that he was hard at that timeand uh...it abruptly stopped with himcalling for helpand it wasn't too long after that before
the truck and moved outus who are late on my side for a while
wondering what has happenedbecause i was young artdidn't really understandwhen i discoveredwas large pool of blood forming up
aroundyou have any doubtglide at that time there was friendly
fire that killednow sir i'm one hundred percent positive
that was from the fireand who was the first person you
informedthat the attack may have been a friendly
fires shippingthe very first person i informeduh... was right afteruh... i got up to check on patdiscovered he was deadmanthe guys qualify calls for came to my
positionandi believe he knewbut when our medicaid markeduh...to come assist usuh... he asked what happened and i try
to let him know who is he identified thename there'll be sergeant andersonsoldiers and hebasically asked me what happened i try
to let him know wantsour squad leader told me basically just
don't say anything at that timeand later on that nightthe first person idefinitely told would be specials writer
larry orwe were inside the womb village were
being but what we had uh... aqawhat we've done a set of positionand point security on the uh... personal
that lived in a villageand he asked me point-blank do you know
what happened and i formed yes this wasfrom the fire's did you grow up in form
for sargent thomas fulleryes i did strike one time later that
night that it was from the fire butcommand sergeantalfred perchyes right he knew at the time sir and
mohabbat lisa sergeant ward you didinformi wasn't adnan abu e-vite also towardi was pretty into account that timei was going into shock i believesergeant jacksonsurgeon jackson i definitely told it was
twenty four hoursnow let me turn to
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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. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton questions Secretary Rumsfeld on apparent gaps in his preparation to testify.
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
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 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 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.
Marie Tillman discusses her experience at CGI U and as advocate and founder of the Pat Tillman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that invests in veterans and their families through education and community. In the fall of 2008, she began a major initiative, the Tillman Military Scholars program, which aims to create the next generation of leaders by helping a select group of veterans, active service members, and their dependents fulfill their academic dreams.
Video production courtesy Triton TV /
"... 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
