Rumsfeld: Pat Tillman Cover Up? No Evidence

Former members of the Bush administration have made a statement on the friendly fire death of Army Cpl. Patrick D. Tillman.

Tillman, was a former National Football League player, who died when he was on patrol near the Afghan-Pakistani border on April 22, 2004. Originally it was reported that he was killed by enemy fire, but about a week later it was determined that he had been killed by friendly fire. At that time, the report was sent to Myers, Abizaid and Army Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who at that time was the commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The report was sent by Army Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then the Joint Staff's vice director for operations, who recommended that the Generals notify the President that there was a chance of a friendly fire incident.

According to Army policy, the family of a soldier who is believed to have been killed by friendly fire, is supposed to be notified as soon as there is evidence pointing to it. The family was never notified and did not find out that he had been killed by friendly fire until it was announced by the Defense Department and that did not happen until five weeks later.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers who is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; retired Army Gen. John Abizaid who is the former commander of U.S. Central Command; and Army Gen. Bryan D. Brown who is the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

All four offered their condolences to the family of Cpl. Tillman and they also denied that there was any kind of cover-up in the death. They admitted that the details and reports concerning his death were "mishandled" but that they were never covered up in order to make it appear that his death was the result of enemy fire.

So far there have been seven separate investigations into Tillman's death and they have shown that the responses from the Army were handled badly and that errors were made.