Re: No Negligence in Pat Tillman's Death [J. Mark English]

David wrote previously: I wish this was kept out of the public and handled internally. Personally, if a family member of mine was to die I would not have wanted them to do the investigation in the first place. What is wrong with telling the family of the deceased their son, father, daughter, brother or sister died in combat? Why do they have to know actually it was just friendly fire.

On the contrary, it was the family that asked for the investigation. A family member (of mine) wrotein an e-mail: I am pretty sure that the Tillman family very much wanted the investigations and that they do very much care about the circumstances of their son's death. The story of Pat Tillman's death is not about the media doing anything, it is about the outright stupidity of the Army and the Dept of Defense and its ability to deal with the truth.

That latter is more accurate. In a statement provided by the Tillman family said:

Our family will continue to pursue the full truth about the circumstances of Pat Tillman‘s death and the so-called "missteps" of the Army, the Department of Defense , and this administration.

The characterization of criminal negligence, professional misconduct, battlefield incompetence, concealment and destruction of evidence, deliberate deception, and conspiracy to deceive are not "missteps."

In our opinion, this attempt to impose closure by slapping the wrists of a few officers and enlisted men is yet another bureaucratic entrenchment.

Our family has worked hard to stay out of the spotlight.

We have continued to hope that we might receive satisfactory answers from the Pentagon and the executive branch.

Now we ask the assistance of Congress and the press.

Human beings continue to be sacrificed on the altar of a dual foreign military occupation.

Thousands of Americans and Afghans, hundreds of U.S. allies, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis‘ lives have been lost and shattered.

We say these things with disappointment and sadness for our country.

Nonetheless, we will persevere in our search for the truth.

The truth is not what we received today.

Once again, we are being used as props in a Pentagon public relations exercise.

It seems that this is a battle that the family is waging, and their charge is incompetence within the military.