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Quiet please.

Pat Tillman, safety, Arizona State.

Good, keep looking. That's good.

Pat, can we try that
just one more time?

Make sure not to kind of even
glance up or look around or anything.

Okay. It's a long-ass time
to just sit there.

Yeah, it is.

Here we go.

If they knew anything about my son,
they wouldn't have done what they did.

Pat Tillman, safety, Arizona State.

Because he didn't really fit into
that box that they would have liked.

Pat Tillman
loved the game of football.

Yet, as much as Pat Tillman loved
competing on the football field...

...he loved America even more.

Courageous and humble,
a loving husband and son...

...a devoted brother
and a fierce defender of liberty.

Pat Tillman
will always be remembered--

I think they just thought, if they spun
the story and we found out...

...we'd just keep it quiet because
we wouldn't want to diminish...

...his heroism or anything like that...

...but, you know, nobody question's
Pat's heroics. He was always heroic.

What they said happened,
didn't happen.

They made up a story, and so
you have to set the record straight.

Good evening, thanks for joining us--

Our top story--

On a more serious
and indeed, tragic note--

Live fire rounds all around me--

In the third week of April 2004,
the 24-hour news cycle...

...was dominated by two stories
about fallen American soldiers.

The first involved an airport worker
who had been fired...

...after sharing these photos
with her local newspaper.

This sparked debate
about a federal law...

...that had been in place
since the first Gulf War.

Why should we hear
about body bags and deaths?

Americans had been mesmerized by
news coverage from the Persian Gulf.

But the military said
photos like these...

...violated the privacy
of grieving families.

The second story was not considered
a violation of privacy.

Pat Tillman, who gave up
a multimillion-dollar contract...

...in professional football,
has been killed.

At age 25, Pat Tillman
was a charismatic defensive back...

...in the national football league...

...with a reputation
as a bruising tackler.

But he brushed it all aside...

...when he announced
that he would be quitting the NFL...

...joining the Army Rangers
along with his brother Kevin...

...and setting off
to fight in the Middle East.

Though the media hounded him
for an interview...

...Tillman refused to speak publicly
about his decision to leave the NFL...

...requesting only that he
be looked upon as any other soldier.

But this was a request that, in death,
the public could not grant him.

The first thing we heard
when we got the news of Pat's death...

...was that he was shot in the head
getting out of a vehicle.

That's all we heard.

We didn't get an official story
until the memorial service.

If you're the victim of an ambush,
there are very few things you can do...

...to increase your chances
of survival.

One of which is to get off
that ambush point as fast as you can.

One of the vehicles
in Pat's convoy...

...could not get off.

He made the call,
he dismounted his troops...

...taking the fight to the enemy
uphill.

This gave his brothers,
in the downed vehicle...

...time to move off that target.

He directly saved their lives
with that move.

Pat's memorial service
in San Jose, California...

...was carried live
by all the major networks.

That service is ongoing right now,
as you just saw here on Fox News--

The story recounted in the eulogy
was abridged...

...elaborated upon
and retold time and again.

According to military accounts,
Tillman ordered his men up a hill...

...to attack terrorists that
had pinned down part of his platoon.

All the soldiers in that
ambushed platoon were saved.

They were rescued by Pat Tillman.

Tillman directed his team
into firing positions.

Tillman's voice
was heard issuing commands...

...to take the fight
to the enemy forces.

Pat Tillman's family will also receive
the Silver Star for his service...

...and his great heroic efforts
over there on April 22nd.

Pat was given the Silver Star, the
nation's third highest combat honor...

...awarded for valor in battle
with enemies of the United States.

A Navy SEAL friend of the family...

...had based his eulogy
on the Silver Star narrative.

Pat sacrificed himself
so his brothers could live.

What they received was something
that was really honorable, you know.

The narrative that they got was
something that was befitting a hero.

I knew that there was
a massive possibility...

...that other things were gonna come
out to bring certain things to light...

...that were gonna completely...

...make that ceremony invalid.

Company.

Present arm.

I remember, we did like this little
memorial in Afghanistan for Pat.

You know, I mean,
fuck, everybody showed up.

It was terrible.
It was terrible seeing everybody.

Everybody was just lost,
shocked, frustrated.

Sound off for roll call.

- Specialist Atkins.
- Here, first sarge.

- Sergeant Elroy.
- Here, first sarge.

- Specialist Norman.
- Here, first sarge.

Specialist Tillman.

Specialist Patrick Tillman.

Specialist Patrick Daniel Tillman.

I knew we were gonna get debriefed.

And they were gonna pick it apart
and figure out what happened.

And people were gonna get punished
and people were gonna be leaving.

I didn't expect to ever, you know,
be on a plane like two hours later.

They knew what the relationship was
between me, Kevin and Pat.

And they told me:

"You're the closest to the brothers,
we want you to fly back with Kevin.

It's not your place
to tell the family anything.

You need to keep
your mouth shut about it.

You need to not cause
any type of turmoil."

And I-- You know, I said, okay. Yeah.

They put us into a cargo plane
that was completely empty.

The only thing in it, right there
in the middle, was Pat's coffin.

And they covered it
with an American flag.

Just sitting across from Kevin and
looking at him, I couldn't say anything.

I barely said two words to Kevin
the whole time we were flying home.

I was afraid that he might ask me
what happened to Pat.

Russell Baer came to our house
after Pat's memorial service...

...and my ex-husband,
or Pat's father...

...asked Russell to tell the story
of what happened to Pat.

The position he was in
while he was over at the house...

...was, I'm sure, very awkward.
It appeared very awkward.

At the time, it seemed
that he was still very upset...

...and rattled by the whole setting,
and Pat's death...

...because he liked Pat a lot.

I went into Pat's mom's living room
and I gave them my narrative...

...excluding certain possibilities.

And Russell Baer told us nothing.

Initially, I was not real pleased
with Russell Baer.

It upset me that this kid...

...that's supposed to be a friend
of the family's, didn't say anything.

But we found out
about five weeks later, the reason.

A reporter from the Arizona Republic
contacted me.

It was peculiar because I hadn't heard
from the media for quite a few weeks.

And I just got a very eerie feeling,
and when I called him back...

...he asked me what I thought about
the news the Army had given us...

...and I didn't know
what he was talking about.

So I basically prodded him
to tell me...

...and he said that,
you know, there was a suspicion...

...that Pat was killed by fratricide,
"friendly fire."

The U.S. Army now says Pat Tillman
was not killed by enemy fire.

It was dark, the terrain was rough.

To put it another way,
it was the fog of war.

Now the Army says, Tillman's death
was apparently an accident.

The investigation results indicate
that Corporal Tillman...

...probably died
as a result of friendly fire...

...while his unit was engaged
in combat with enemy forces.

It was determined that
I was to give the press conference.

My role during this period...

...was commander of the U.S. Army
Special Operations Command.

I commanded the Green Berets...

...Civil Affairs, SIOPs,
the 160th Aviation...

...the Rangers
and a number of our Special units.

It was General Kensinger's job
to explain why five weeks earlier...

...the military had reported
that Pat was killed by the Taliban.

You know,
I don't wanna sound trite...

...but there's an old Army adage
that says first reports are incorrect.

There is an inherent danger
of confusion in any firefight...

...particularly when
a unit is ambushed.

During the press conference...

...and at a subsequent private briefing
with the Tillman's...

...the Army said Pat had been killed
by an errant U.S. bullet...

...during a chaotic ambush.

The ambush was conducted
by 10 to 12 enemy personnel...

...from multiple locations--

According to them,
things were confusing...

...and it's an unfortunate accident.

I know I felt like they haven't
really looked into this well enough...

...to give me an explanation,
and I don't much appreciate that.

The results of this investigation...

...in no way diminish the bravery
and sacrifice displayed...

...by Corporal Tillman.

In the process of this explanation,
I asked one of them:

"Why then award him a Silver Star?

You don't give a Silver Star
for attitude."

He goes, "Well, we did in this case."

You don't wanna think the worst
of the people that you're dealing with.

Our thoughts and our prayers remain
with the Tillman family.

Thank you for being here
this morning.

You want to believe
they're telling you the truth...

...yet, you're getting this sense
that you're being lied to.

U.S. Central Command
is the point of contact...

...for further inquiries
in this investigation. Thank you.

At the end of the briefing, we were told
that we would be getting...

...the source documents that were
used to support the investigation.

They showed me the box.
It was six binders full of stuff.

"Eventually, Mr. Tillman,
you're going to get a copy of all this."

I said,
"Great. When am I gonna get it?"

What motivates you the most?

I don't know.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of, like...

...you know,
my family being proud of me.

My brothers, you know, I care
what they think and how they feel...

...and I want them to be proud
of what I'm doing.

My mom-- My mom finished dead last
in the San Francisco Marathon.

I don't know when it was. She was
probably 30-- Whatever years old.

I mean, dead last.
On the little sheet when--

You know, they do it-- Her--
Mary Tillman, the last fricking name.

They were actually tearing everything
down when she finished, you know.

They were putting everything away.

So, I mean, that says a lot about her.
She's a real hard-working woman--

Dannie committed herself
to trying to...

...you know, figure out exactly
what happened to our son.

She contacted a lot of people.
She did a lot of work.

I'd take things to work,
or I'd make phone calls...

...when I didn't have students,
or when I had my break or at lunch.

I'd call the medical examiner,
the coroner.

I'd call ballistic people trying to find
someone that could answer questions.

I mean,
I was just making calls all the time.

Along the way, I'd encounter people
that were able to help us.

And at somewhere along the line,
we got in touch with Stan Goff.

I was running a blog,
everybody got a blog nowadays...

...so I wrote something
about the Tillman Case.

It was just, you know,
a commentary piece related to...

...this whole perception-management
aspect of the war.

So when we got to talking,
she realized I'd been around.

I'd been to Vietnam
and Guatemala...

...Grenada, El Salvador, Peru,
Colombia, Somalia.

Three assignments
with Ranger units...

...two assignments
with the Special Forces unit...

...one assignment
with the Counterterrorist unit.

So it wasn't just
that I had experience in Pat's unit...

...it was also that
I could sort of help them...

...read the hieroglyphics
in that Special Operations world.

Because it is a culture.

The first time the family got a sense
that we were being lied to...

...was when we started looking
at the documents.

They gave her the papers,
but what they did was...

...I think, they tried to drown her,
you know.

They wanted to give her so much that,
you know, no normal human being...

...would dig through all this paperwork
and try to make sense out of it.

The Army handed over transcripts
of every interview they conducted...

...with Pat's platoon
and their commanding officers.

There were also
radio-communications logs...

...field-hospital reports, terrain maps,
an autopsy...

...and a detailed study
of the light conditions that day.

In all, it totaled over 3,000 pages
of material on Pat's death.

But it's redacted.

Every single name, half the actions,
any references to places.

You have to go this sort of
painstaking reconstruction.

It's like doing a very difficult
crossword puzzle.

You keep running around looking
for just one word you can fit in there...

...and then you can sort of
lock all the other stuff into it.

We tried to look
at what was being said...

...and then we'd try
to piece together--

Okay, if they're saying this,
then who might that be?

We would take a redacted name...

...and we'd try to count the number
of spaces that were in there...

...to try to figure out
whose last name was in there.

And, of course, by going over
the same thing again and again...

...with some names plugged in...

...we started to become familiar
with aspects of it.

I wanna make this very clear, when
we initially heard of this fratricide...

...and the fact that these soldiers
in this vehicle had killed Pat...

...we felt very bad for them,
to have to live with this.

We thought it was just some
horrible accident.

You know, they were in a fog of war
and they were frightened...

...and it was too dark to see. But you're
reading things in the documents...

...that make you very suspicious.

The more that we heard
about the situation...

...it seemed much more
like gross negligence.

They asked one of the soldiers:

"Did you positively identify
your target?"

He said, "I don't know.
I thought everybody else did.

I just wanted to be in a firefight."

That doesn't sound
like someone who's afraid.

That sounds like someone who
simply wants to shoot at something.

There's a sense that
we can't discover meaning...

...we can't discover who we are,
we have no real sense of identity...

...until that's tested somehow.

Let's test it against something
that's real, let's test it in a context...

...where life and death
are real coexisting possibilities.

All young infantrymen will say,
"I wanna be in a firefight."

That's what makes them feel
like they're fully fledged.

You know, they can say, "Well,
I've actually experienced combat."

What is up?

What's up?

I went in for all the selfish reasons.

I didn't go in because I was patriotic
and wanted to serve my country.

I wanted to serve myself.

I wanted to get some money
for college.

I wanted to learn
to be more self-sufficient.

I wanted to blow things up
and shoot guns, you know.

I got to Ranger battalion
September 10th.

And, literally, when I got there
and woke up the next morning...

...I got thrown out of my bed
and I thought it was a joke.

You know, new guy, big joke.

And when I saw the planes
hit the towers...

...you know, during breakfast,
it was like:

"I'm gonna fucking die."

It was about 10 minutes later, there
was people yelling and standing up.

They were pumped
because we was gonna go to war.

They knew we was gonna go to war
at that point.

Sound off.

You don't wanna see it happen,
but at the same time...

...that's what
you've been working for.

And whenever that comes down,
you want a chance to say:

"Hey, I can handle this"

Airborne Rangers, motherfucker!

Go!

You know, we're supposed to believe
that soldiers' motives are pure...

...that they go into these situations
reluctantly.

It's an imposition of a level of wisdom
and maturity on soldiers...

...that doesn't apply to 19 year olds
anywhere, ever.

I ain't fucking out, dude.

A 19-year-old kid is far less interested
in displaying wisdom...

...than they are in, like, giving some
sort of a practical demonstration...

...of their masculinity,
you know what I mean?

The atmosphere in a military unit
like that, is a locker-room atmosphere.

Tapping.

Fucker.

It's not philosophical.

- I turn my back on you.
- Get that fucking camera out of here.

I expected Pat to be kind of like,
you know, in a general sense...

...the general depiction of, like,
your jock, your meathead.

Not very intelligent.

Kind of like the guys I knew
in high school. They were just...

...jerks.

Arrogant, you know, full of himself.

Why the hell is somebody leaving
an NFL contract...

...to come to this shit hole
and deal with this kind of nonsense?

There was just
kind of a low mumble...

...that he really was looking
to become a political leader.

A lot of people thought he just didn't
have a good head on his shoulders.

He wanted to kind of do the macho,
red-blooded American, patriotic thing.

He was an ex-football player, he was
used to getting millions of dollars...

...and he was used to
pretty much having it his way.

He was a private...

...which in Ranger mentality, it means
that you're on the same level as dirt.

There was a time where I did have
to take corrective action against Pat...

...for, basically, coming unglued on me
for an order that he was given.

That's just the way
that the military goes.

You get orders,
sometimes you don't like them.

You don't have the option of saying:

"I don't like this.
Let's do this another way."

Or in his case, saying,
"This is completely fucking stupid."

Pat had something,
you know, that I wanted.

You know, there was something
that Pat knew and just got...

...that I needed, that I wanted.

I went in looking for that one thing
that I couldn't put my finger on...

...that was going to help me to
accomplish everything I wanted to do...

...and Pat had that something.

He wasn't at all
what I expected to find.

He didn't seem like
this tough knucklehead guy.

You know, he was interested
in Emerson, in Chomsky...

...and he just seemed
very, just, open.

It didn't matter who you were, where
you were from, what you were into...

...Pat always wanted to find out
what you were about.

And he would ask
a million questions.

I walked in on him one time and
he was reading the Book of Mormon.

And, you know, it really hit me
because I am Mormon.

So I asked him, "Hey, you know,
you have any questions...

...please feel free to ask.

I'll explain whatever I can to you
as best as I can.

I knew that he wasn't religious, but he
told me that he respected all religions.

Bryan O'Neal was kind of a small guy,
a very nervous guy.

I wasn't real impressed.

I think he was really looking
for a place to fit in...

...looking for more family...

...looking for something
that was a little bit of a closer tie.

I was kind of terrified going there
because, you know...

...the rumors of hazing and tricks that
the senior guys play on the new guys.

Pat was different
from everyone else in the platoon.

He didn't ever, you know,
treat me like I was lower than him.

I think the only time,
you know, that I upset Pat...

...is he asked me to,
you know, prep some ChemLights...

...for an objective
we had the next day...

...and I forgot,
you know, I was doing other things.

And he basically let me know
that I disappointed him...

...that I didn't do
what he wanted me to do.

And that really, you know--

I wish he would've taken me
in the hallway...

...and smoked me up and down,
and, you know, treated me horribly...

...you know, called me stupid.

But him telling me that I disappointed
him, it really upset me, you know.

I decided
I was never gonna do that again...

...because he was such a great guy
I didn't wanna let him down.

When Bryan came in,
Pat kind of picked him up.

He just put an arm around him and
scooped him up the best he could.

Everyone was actually envious
that he was my team leader...

...that little scrawny me would be
working with this huge football player.

I blamed myself for quite some time
that maybe...

...you know, Pat's not in a place
where he should be...

...because I didn't put forth
more effort.

And, you know, it's something
I still think about today.

You know,
that because of my lack of faith...

...you know,
he may be suffering for it.

For all those who are here tonight...

...we honor the memory
and accomplishments of Pat Tillman...

...by permanently retiring
his number 42 ASU football jersey.

Arizona was always very good
to Pat...

...but it's very hard when
you're put out there kind of on display.

The public grieving
is not something that I can do.

I don't wanna do it.

It's an awkward spot.

The issue at the time was trying to
figure out what had happened to Pat.

It was, you know,
sort of a difficult situation...

...because it was a very private thing
that happened...

...that was then being played out
in the public.

And so I had this sense of sort of
wanting to hold on to what I could.

Even at that point,
he was totally getting lost.

Pat, who he was as a person,
was lost in the conversation.

--what you did with Pat Tillman--

Oh, there we go,
typical Republican personal attack.

- Can't stick to the issues--
- Let me finish the point.

Pat Tillman
was a Noam Chomsky fan...

...was gonna vote for John Kerry,
was against the war in Iraq.

- I don't believe it.
- I don't believe it either.

He signed up
because of his desire to fight.

They would take parts
of who he was...

...and magnify those
to suit their purposes.

I was trying to figure out
how to live without him.

You feel like
your world has stopped...

...and yet, everything goes on
like normal.

It started pretty much overnight
after Pat was killed.

The day after he was killed,
there were cameras on my front lawn...

...which was bizarre.

I mean, I was not expecting
anything like that at all.

He lived here in University Place
with his wife.

I remember my mom was always
going around closing the blinds.

Today three men from Fort Lewis
walk slowly to the house...

...to tell his wife, Marie, they care.

Staff Sergeant David High, a Ranger,
tried unsuccessfully...

...to express his feelings,
choked up, and walked away.

No, that's not good. Sorry.

But the newsmen camped out
on Marie's lawn had the story wrong.

In fact, the casualty-assistance
officers were there to compel Marie...

...to sign off on a funeral
at Arlington National Cemetery...

...with full military honors.

They were sort of pushing
for a military funeral...

...which was not
what his wishes were.

During basic training,
Pat had a premonition...

...that if he died, he might be used
as a public-relations' stunt.

So he'd smuggled a copy
of his final wishes home to Marie.

I really had to
kind of push back on them.

They were proceeding as if this was
the way things were gonna happen.

Probably thinking that,
you know, I was so grief-stricken...

...that I would just go along with it.

My mission here
is to support the family...

...and help them through the process,
and make it easier for her.

That's the first episode, in a way.

Before Pat's body is even cold.

The death didn't just belong
to the family.

This was bigger than the family.

"This is ours," you know.

It's ours to interpret.

And you will see him again
when a loving God reunites us all...

...with the loved ones
who preceded us in death.

The contrast
of the memorial service...

...should have hit a warning shot
to the military.

You got people out there speaking
in these glittering generalities.

Pat, your family
doesn't have to worry anymore.

You are home, you are safe,
and you will not be forgotten.

And then you've got his brother
coming up there.

Somebody who's willing to speak
the brutality of that reality for them.

He was always giving gifts.
Thanks, Pat.

I didn't write shit
because I'm not a writer.

And I just want to say, it was--

There's a lot of people here, thanks.

It was really amazing
to be his little baby brother.

Yeah, I'm not just gonna sit up here
and break down on you, but....

Thank you for coming.
Pat's a fucking champion...

...and always will be.

Just make no mistake,
he'd want me to say this.

He's not with God, he's fucking dead.
He's not religious, so....

Thanks for your thoughts,
but he's fucking dead.

I don't regret any of that.

You know,
as far as what I was thinking...

...I was just simply miserable,
you know.

I was, you know--
I was sad for my whole my family.

I was sad for my mom, my dad,
Marie, Kevin.

This isn't a production.
It's my brother's service.

I didn't plan on saying that, it just....

He's not what these people
wished he was.

Everyone grabbed at Pat's death.

Not necessarily just the military,
everybody grabbed at him.

They just chose the wrong family
to try to do it in front of.

Not to say that we always did
the right thing in this house...

...we made lots of mistakes...

...but I think that we did make
an attempt to tell the truth.

You know, sometimes you have
to work at that.

In 1976, Patrick and Dannie Tillman
moved to New Almaden...

...a two-road town
near San Jose, California...

...where he practiced law
and she worked as a teacher.

Part of the reason
for living out in New Almaden...

...was a deliberate decision...

...to set a better environment
for the kids.

We discouraged watching TV.

We did the same thing
with the telephone.

We had one telephone and it was
right in the middle of the house.

If you wanted to talk to somebody...

...then you'd talk
right in front of everybody else.

So it wasn't like we isolated them,
it's just there were certain priorities...

...and it wasn't that difficult
to deprive them for their own good.

You know, we did grow up together.
Pat and Kevin were so close in age...

...they were only 14 months apart,
so they were together all the time.

They would go to the creek,
the mountains.

I was exhausted by 7
because they were all over the place...

...and I just didn't have
that kind of stamina.

It was just our own little world.

And we happened to have a very just
and kind leader in Pat.

And it pushed Kevin and myself
to do things...

...that, you know, we probably wouldn't
have normally done.

The boys had that colorful language.

It just was the way they talked.

Well, the F-word
is one of their more popular words...

...and they can use it as an adjective,
a verb, a noun.

They can, you know-- And then other
parts of speech that we don't know.

Yeah, that's true.

They kind of-- They swear a lot.

Did you have rules in the house
about cussing?

Evidently not.

I never met Pat, so the only way
that I know Pat Tillman...

...is through what I've heard
from his family.

Pat was a pretty typical kid,
but then he also had this gift.

You know, he had this gift.

He was a comparatively little guy
that could just really run fast...

...and knock the shit out of people.

We first noticed Pat Tillman when he
scored the game-winning touchdown...

...against Independence last season,
then did a flip in full pads.

Made it up, I don't know.

Came to me right about the time
I did it. I don't know.

He was very low-key about getting
the compliments and the accolades.

It kind of embarrassed him.

You're always so modest
when I talk to you.

This time,
take some credit for yourself.

You're not gonna do it, are you?

I had a big line
and a great offensive coordinator.

I don't know where he is,
but well-coached.

He wasn't much of a showman.

- Give him the plaque.
- Here you go.

He enjoyed the game. He enjoyed
all the games that he played.

He liked climbing things.

He liked jumping off of things.

He liked taking risks, yeah.
Yeah, he was big on risks.

He challenged himself that way.
He wouldn't let me see any of that.

If you're gonna do that kind of stuff,
do it behind my back.

Pat was given a football scholarship
to Arizona State University...

...where he became
an academic All-American...

...with a 3.8 grade point average.

We never lose at home.
We kicked the shit out of them.

His square-jawed intensity
and long-haired California cool...

...soon made him a local celebrity.

I want you to talk about Patton...

...military leaders
that you kind of tap into...

...for your own,
I guess, abilities on a football field.

You know, Patton's a cool guy.
I like his stuff.

He made some comment one time,
something to the effect of:

"No one ever won a war
dying for their country.

Let the other son of a bitch
die for his."

It's things like that, it's guys like that,
guys where their attitude--

They're a little bit crazy...

...but it's that craziness
that propels them to greatness.

The throw. Shoots it over the middle.
And, whoa, what a hit.

Pat Tillman knocked the helmet
off of Isaac Byrd.

- That was scary.
- Oh, my.

Because he was considered small,
at 5'11"...

...Pat was never expected
to make it in NFL.

But from his very first training camp,
he set the tone for his career.

I mean, they are gonna be fights
in training camp.

I got Pitt and Pat Tillman together.

Those two are important to me.
There was no problem.

You know, 9:00 in the morning,
get your ass knocked off...

...I might be mad too.

He would hit you
as hard as he possibly could.

Never even looked at Pat Tillman.
Never even thought--

That's a perfect job for Pat Tillman
because he's a little bit free of spirit.

To his new teammates,
Pat was a bit of an oddball.

He didn't own a cell phone
or a car...

...and would leave his beach cruiser
in the team parking lot...

...among the Escalades and BMWs.

But to fans, Pat was a rare example
of a public figure...

...who wasn't afraid
to speak his mind.

Why should the fans think
this year's gonna be any different?

You know what? They shouldn't.

We haven't done anything
at this point to prove that we're not--

We didn't have a good year last year,
and that's the only thing that matters.

We need to go out
and start winning games.

When we start winning games,
the fans will come out and watch us.

Until that happens, you know,
I wouldn't come out either.

The Cardinals win
and they go to the playoffs.

He liked the physicality of it,
but I think he really liked that feeling...

...of being connected
with the man next to you.

I think he thrived
on that feeling of unity.

At the age of 25,
four years into his NFL career...

...Pat married
his high-school sweetheart.

This is very special for me.

It means a lot that my older brother
is getting married--

Pat first crossed paths
with Marie Ugenti at the age of 4...

...when they played
in the same youth soccer league.

She was his first and only girlfriend.

And even though they would go
to different colleges...

...and he would become
a high-profile athlete...

...Pat remained faithful to Marie
until the end of his life.

As far as an older brother, you couldn't
ask for anything more than him.

I mean, he's lights out, he's fantastic.
And to know that he's with Marie...

...the greatest girl in the whole world,
it's just money, man.

It's absolutely money for me.

I don't know, I love it, dude.
This is fucking awesome.

To see Pat and Marie get married--
It was just an awesome day.

I didn't realize that--

You know, what was known
at that point, obviously.

But it was....

I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I would
have had as much fun, that's for sure.

They made this decision,
the three of them...

...Kevin and Pat and Marie.
It was something they talked about.

They kept it from us until after
Pat and Marie were actually married.

The boys, they called me on,
actually, Mother's Day of 2002...

...and they told me
that they were going to enlist.

And Dannie was not happy
about the whole thing.

She made it known.

Members of the family
go back for generations serving.

My father, my father-in-law...

...all my uncles,
served in World War II or Korea.

And, you know,
I talked to the boys a lot...

...about, you know,
the camaraderie of war.

And I suppose it concerned me
that I did talk too much about that.

That it became more intriguing to them
than it should've been.

Some people thought that, you know,
I could have talked him out of it...

...or asked him not to do it.

But that was just never something
I would've done.

Somehow or another, Dannie had
a lot more foresight than I did...

...because it dawned on her
right then and there...

...that she cannot deal
with losing one of her sons.

My comment at the time was:

"Could you imagine someone seeing
Pat and Kevin coming after them?

I feel bad for those people."

So that was a bad call on my part.

We'll never know exactly
why Pat Tillman enlisted.

He made a deliberate choice
not to make it a public matter.

But after he died,
an interview surfaced.

Even as athletes, we bitch and moan
every now and again...

...about this or that,
and if we ever just, you know--

Times like this,
you stop and think about just how--

Not only how good we have it, but
what kind of a system we live under...

...what freedoms we're allowed,
and that wasn't built overnight.

And it's kind of--

The flag is a symbol of all that,
the symbol of--

You know,
you just don't think about it--

On the day after 9/11, the Cardinals
had conducted team interviews...

...so players could comment
on the country...

...in the wake
of the terrorist attacks.

My great-grandfather
was at Pearl Harbor...

...and a lot of my family has given up--
Has gone and fought in wars.

And I really haven't done
a damn thing...

...as far as laying myself
on the line like that.

So I have a great deal of respect
for those that have.

And what the flag stands for.

The interview became known
as Pat's explanation...

...for why he dropped everything
and joined the Army...

...even though he wouldn't actually
make his decision...

...for another six months.

It would be used
to violate his only request...

...that his motivation for enlisting
be kept private.

Pat Tillman
had everything to live for.

All that was missing
was a true sense of purpose.

He said he found that
on September 11th, 2001.

Former safety
for the Arizona Cardinals...

...gave up a multimillion-dollar
pro-football deal...

...the day after September 11th.

Tillman explained his decision--

This is what he said
the day after the attacks--

Here's how he explained
his decision--

"To make right," he said,
"what 9/11 had made so wrong."

He was a human being...

...and by putting this kind of heroic,
saintly quality to him...

...you're taking away the struggle
of being a human being.

I mean, he had to make choices,
just like we all do.

And he tried
to make the right choices.

When he didn't make the right choice,
he was the first person to tell you.

The military was not
what Pat expected it to be.

He thought, just like the majority
of people in this country...

...that going into Afghanistan
was the right thing to do.

And then,
of course, once they enlisted...

...the talks started veering
towards going into Iraq.

And when they were over there,
he didn't like what he saw.

In February 2003,
Pat and Kevin were deployed to Iraq.

One month later,
the Rangers were ordered...

...to provide perimeter support
for the rescue of Jessica Lynch...

...a supply clerk who had reportedly
engaged the enemy...

...in a fierce firefight
before being taken prisoner.

She showed true courage.

She shot until
she ran out of ammunition.

She's alive, she's being tortured.

Despite the apparent urgency...

...the rescue of Jessica Lynch
was inexplicably put on hold.

Russell Baer waited out the delay
on top of a bunker...

...with Pat and his brother Kevin.

Just watching these bombs
and these A-10's strafe the city.

That was the first time I'd heard Pat
in kind of like no-kidding opinion...

...on kind of
what was going on there.

He just said,
"This war is just so fucking illegal."

You know,
just watching this scene unfold...

...you know,
the city's being blown to shit.

Come right, come right.

Okay.
I'm moving to cover our backs.

- Okay.
- This is oppressive.

Hold it there, please.

It's pretty clear the Special Ops team
could have essentially...

...walked into the hospital,
picked her up and carried her out...

...and would've been cooperated with
all along the way.

It would come out later
that Jessica Lynch...

...had neither fired her weapon
nor been tortured...

...and that the inexplicable delay...

...had been to enable a combat
camera crew to record the mission.

- Camera right here?
- Can you smile?

- Can you smile for the family?
- For your folks?

There you go. You're doing great,
Jessica. You're doing wonderful.

It was a film production.

Jessica Lynch's rescue
was a film production.

We understand that there is video
taken by a combat camera team.

- Can you show us that video?
- Do we have the tape?

Some brave souls put their lives
on the line to make this happen.

Loyal to the creed that they know...

...that they'll never leave
a fallen comrade...

...and never embarrass their country.
With that, I'll take your questions.

The media has been
more than complicit.

The military has just released new
video this morning of the daring raid.

They wanna take all the complexities
of a real situation...

...and reduce them
into a comfortable fable.

It was a mission one described
as "a midnight ballet."

One that's easy to sort of digest...

...and, you know,
consists of good guys and bad guys...

...that are clearly recognizable
from movies.

Saving Private Lynch.

Private First Class Jessica Lang,
a 19-year-old U.S. Army soldier.

I apologize. It's Jessica "Lynch."

If you wanna get the public
to cosign something...

...you gotta give them something
that they're willing to cosign.

It has to be turned into
a morality play.

- American hero.
- American hero.

I do not wanna see dead bodies.

I do not wanna see coffins.
I wanna remain comfortable.

Welcome home.

And so, you know, the government
gives them what they want.

The press gives them
what they want.

Pat and Kevin,
when they came back from Iraq...

...were like,
"This is just 100 percent bullshit."

I think after coming home from Iraq,
he was a little disillusioned.

It was right around
the halfway mark...

...and he was in a stage
of looking towards the next step.

Just before Pat was due to return
to combat duty...

...an opportunity arose
that would have saved his life.

One of the NFL teams
had approached his agent...

...and, you know, said that
he would be eligible to get out...

...since he had been
on a combat tour.

In a back-channel agreement...

...the military said that Pat could be
immediately discharged with honors...

...and could return to his football
career by the following season.

As coach Dave McGinnis
later recalled...

...Pat sought him out
to discuss the secret offer.

When he came in and talked to me--

We talked for about two hours
in my office.

And we talked about some things
that at the time...

...that he asked that I not talk about.

He said, "Coach Mac, I'll tell you
some things, but I would prefer--"

And believe me,
I will hold those things forever.

Just know this,
that Pat Tillman made a decision...

...based on some very real values.

And the words: honor, integrity,
dignity, commitment...

...they were not just adjectives
with Pat Tillman...

...they were realities in his life...

...and that came through
very loud and clear.

He committed for three years and
he was gonna fulfill his commitment.

It's the same reason why Kevin
didn't leave after Pat was killed.

They made a commitment
and they honored that.

Did you get the impression that
he planned on returning to football?

Just give me a minute here
because this is....

You know, he had....

That's what he wanted to do...

...because one of the last things that
he said to me when we left up there--

You know, I said, "Okay, good luck.
Stay in touch, we'll be--"

And he said, "You know, I'd...."

And then-- And his last--

He said, "Coach, I just-- You know,
I wanna come back and play for you."

Pat reported for his second tour
of duty in April of 2004.

His platoon was sent to Afghanistan
and assigned to carry out...

...reconnaissance sweeps
near the Pakistani border.

The Rangers were accompanied
by a group of allied Afghan militia...

...known as AMF soldiers.

Pat was now in charge of a small
fire team including Bryan O'Neal.

At that time,
I mean, I was still brand-new.

Being from Arizona...

...I thought a lot of Afghanistan
looked like a lot of Arizona.

The people were a bit different.

These photos were taken
by Pat's platoon...

...in the days leading up
to the incident of April 22nd.

On that day,
while traversing the rugged terrain...

...one of the platoon's Humvees
broke down.

After six hours stuck in a small village,
the commanders back at base...

...ordered the platoon
split in two halves, or "serials."

One serial was to deal
with the downed vehicle...

...while the other, including Pat,
Russell Baer and Bryan O'Neal...

...was to carry on with the mission.

I remember thinking that it was
a horrible idea to split the convoy.

You know, you're taking half
of your firepower away...

...especially in this area
we were going through.

As soon as we took off,
we basically went into this canyon...

...where the walls were so steep.

442 Zulu.
We're running down the canyon.

Staff Sergeant ****
is going to narrate as best he can...

...his recollection of events
passing through this canyon.

This video shows the actual canyon
where Pat was killed.

It was presented to the Tillman's...

...as part of the military's
official explanation of the incident.

Okay, we're rolling.
This is April 23rd, 2006. 0551 Zulu.

The Army's investigator
returned to Afghanistan...

...with members of Pat's platoon...

...who walked him through
the sequence of events...

...and laid out the routes
of the two serials.

Traveling along a dry creek bed
at the bottom of a narrow gorge...

...Pat, Bryan O'Neal, Russell Baer,
and the rest of Serial 1...

...made it through the canyon
unscathed.

At the mouth of the canyon,
they arrived at a small village.

There was a rolling hill
with some compounds on it.

My squad leader said, "Stop the
vehicles. Get out, stretch your legs.

Let's figure out where we're at.
Let's figure out where Serial 2's at."

And that's when we heard
the first initial explosion.

I remember hearing
these explosions go off...

...and I knew they were in the back
of the canyon where we just were.

Which kind of surprised me
because, you know, I didn't realize...

...that the second half of the convoy
was following behind us like they were.

In the steep terrain...

...the two serials had lost
radio contact with each other.

Pat's serial didn't know...

...that half a mile behind them
in the canyon, was the second serial.

In the last of five vehicles was
Kevin Tillman and Jason Parsons.

We was moving through the canyon
and then there was an explosion.

I mean,
it was a pretty decent explosion.

We seen rocks and dust
and everything fly.

People in a vehicle
further up the canyon...

...believed that it was
an RPG attack...

...so they began
lighting up that position.

The Army initially reported
that the Rangers were set upon...

...by an ambush
of up to 20 Taliban fighters.

But in the entire course
of this attack...

...not a single Ranger
was wounded by enemy fire.

Not even a bullet hole was found
in any of the equipment.

Even though you go through
all the statements, no one ever saw...

...more than two people at a time
that were attacking them.

And in many cases, they sounded
very unsure of themselves...

...even saying that.

It's completely conceivable...

...that these explosions were maybe
one of our guys AD'd his weapon.

AD meaning they discharged
the weapon accidentally.

That's his perspective.
I'll let him have it.

But from my perspective,
there was two mortars that hit...

...there were rounds coming in...

...I had one impact 6 to 7 feet
away from me.

In the end, the existence
of any enemy combatants...

...has been disputed.

What has never been disputed is that,
in this moment...

...the Rangers in Serial 2
unleashed their full firepower...

...up into the canyon walls...

...as they continued driving
towards Serial 1.

It was not a fog of war,
not in my mind at all.

I believe it was a lust to fight.

I don't think these soldiers were scared
when they came out of that canyon.

I think they were relieved
they were out of the canyon...

...and they just wanted to shoot.

Hearing the explosion
and gun fire...

...Serial 1 ran back toward the canyon
to help Serial 2.

I remember seeing Pat, you know.
He yelled at me, "O'Neal, follow me!"

And, you know, I do what I was told.

You know, he's my team leader,
I follow him wherever I go.

And I was really surprised
at how quick O'Neal was following Pat.

I mean, he has just as much gear on
as everybody else...

...and he was just keeping up
with him.

I remember getting halfway up this hill
and Pat turning around...

...asking Sergeant Weeks,
my squad leader:

"Hey, Sergeant Weeks,
can we take our body armor off?"

And I remember thinking to myself:

"Fuck that.
I am keeping my body armor on."

Pat is wanting to get up there
as quickly as possible.

Tillman was at about this location...

...and he asked
if he could drop his body armor...

...and start pursuing up this hill.

I told him no.

At that time, I noticed there was
an Afghani militia man with us.

He jumped in with us
and we just started running.

At the moment Pat's fire team
reached these rocks...

...the lead vehicle of Serial 2 emerged
from the canyon below them.

The vehicle had left Kevin, Jason
and the rest of the convoy behind.

It pulled into the clearing,
and the soldiers onboard took aim...

...directly up at Pat's fire team.

The AMF soldier
standing next to Pat...

...was shot eight times in the chest
and dropped dead.

Facing the gentleman,
and I approached--

People started to yell, "Cease fire!"

Then people said, "Hey, I think
they're fucking shooting at us."

And then, you know, we knew,
no shit, that they were shooting at us.

A .50 cal can shoot
900 rounds a minute...

...and it could have been no less than
a minute that they were shooting at us.

You could see on the rock
all the marks from the rounds...

...all except the spot
where I was lying.

I just remember thinking,
"I'm gonna die."

And, you know, asking Pat,
"What are we gonna do?

How are we gonna get out of this?"
And he said, "I've got an idea."

He popped a smoke grenade
and threw it...

...and they stopped shooting at us.

And after they stopped shooting at us,
you know, me and Pat stood up...

...let our hearts slow down
for a second.

I remember looking at Pat asking him,
"How could that happen?

How did they not see us?"

And, you know, he couldn't
answer me, he didn't know.

I was actually more afraid for the guys
that had just got done shooting at us...

...that they were gonna
get in trouble.

The soldiers didn't get in trouble...

...because the military
always maintained...

...that what happened next
transpired in only four seconds...

...during the confusion of combat.

For years, we get this story...

...that Pat was shot
from probably 200, 300 yards away.

They were going
about 25 to 35 miles an hour...

...firing wildly to the right...

...and Pat and this Afghan were just
an unfortunate consequence...

...of people being excited.

But Bryan O'Neal has said,
in no uncertain terms that...

...that was not the case.

Today was the first day I've ever
actually seen this PowerPoint.

It's really interesting to see
from this perspective now.

I don't find this video accurate
because it depicts, on his account...

...that they were moving
continuously...

...through the valley
where they were driving.

In actuality, from my memory...

...I remember them stopping and firing
on two occasions.

What he's saying here
is a complete lie.

The driver took them
from about a hundred yards away...

...over to a better location
to kill them.

Now they're about 40 yards away.

You know, they stopped
and then drove forward...

...and then reengaged us,
dismounted...

...and then started reengaging
us again.

At that point,
I thought we were all gonna die.

And....

I remember putting my weapon on fire,
and having my finger on the trigger...

...and knowing
these are my buddies down there...

...but knowing that they're gonna
kill us and kill everybody.

And I was, you know, a second away
from just loading them up...

...just killing them all,
and I could have done it.

I started to say a prayer out loud,
you know, and it was something like:

"Oh, God, please, if you can help us
out of this situation...

...you know, I'll be very grateful...

...and I'll do what I can to repay you
for this debt that I will owe you."

And I remember Pat saying,
"O'Neal, quit praying."

You know,
God is not the one to help you now.

This is reality,
this is what we need to focus on.

I don't want you
to go into some la-la land...

...not pay attention
and then get killed."

I was actually grateful
for him to say that.

I was really trying to put my focus
somewhere else and not keep it here.

Pat, he saved my life.

All of the sudden,
they started shooting at us again...

...and I just remember Pat,
you know, yelling his name.

"I'm Pat Tillman.

I'm Pat fucking Tillman,
why are you shooting at me?"

Pat's last words were, repeatedly,
"I'm Pat fucking Tillman."

And that was after he got lit up
by the machine gun the first time.

He's flat on the ground,
sitting on the ground, he was hurt.

And I suspect
he was a bit disappointed...

...that his own team
is shooting at him.

And I imagine that those comments
of his, "I'm Pat fucking Tillman"...

...he said while looking
right at them...

...with a face that would make
most people nervous.

I remember hearing the sound
of a drinking fountain.

Like, when you press the button...

...to get water out of the drinking
fountain, the sound it makes.

And I just look over at my side
and I see this blood...

...pouring down this rock
that I'm sitting behind.

He-- His head was gone.

Completely gone.

And I take my helmet off
and I throw it against the ground...

...and then I kind of blackout.

I just heard this guttural scream.

And I automatically thought,
"Someone's dead."

It's the first thing I had.

And I caught Dannie about seven,
eight feet outside her door...

...and she was collapsing,
and I caught her...

...and she had a telephone
in her hand.

One sad thing,
and I'll never forget this...

...but she went
and got a picture of Patrick...

...and she had this picture
and she just kept saying:

"April the 22nd, 2004.

April the 22nd, Pat is gone.

April the 22nd--"

I was with Kevin when he found out
Pat had been killed.

He got out of the vehicle...

...and you could see there was a
million things going through his head.

There was absolute horror
and shock...

...and I remember him screaming
several times.

I remember him taking his helmet off
and slamming it on the ground.

I remember...

...our medic, Doc...

...kind of coming up to him, you know,
saying, "Hey, give me your weapon."

And then I saw him go over to his
brother's body and he just sat there.

I remember seeing Kevin
in his Humvee...

...and I was told by Colonel Bailey...

...to not tell him
Pat was killed by friendly fire.

You know,
"Your career is on the line...

...do not tell Kevin
exactly what happened."

Kevin had arrived on the scene
10 minutes after the shooting.

He was immediately quarantined
and the rest of the platoon...

...was ordered not to tell him
what had happened.

Russell Baer was put on a plane
with Kevin.

He was ordered
to escort Pat's remains back home...

...and to present the family with flags
on behalf of the country.

That was a difficult experience for me.
Just with everything that I knew...

...and I was scared
about what was to come afterwards.

You know, I was just--
I was afraid for it all.

I mean, it was the first time
I'd ever met Pat's mom...

...and she saw how difficult it was
for me and she....

She grabbed my hand,
kind of just patted my hand a little bit.

The real test of a man is not when he
plays the role he wants for himself...

...but when he plays the role
destiny has for him.

So when that little voice in your head
tells you not to do the easy things...

...but the right things...

...it's Pat. Right in your ear, man.
It's Pat.

Right after Pat died...

...we probably felt the most sense of
comfort from people from the military.

And we were very honored to see
that General Kensinger was present.

I wanna thank
anybody involved in the military...

...especially the Rangers.
Outstanding human beings--

Then to find out that they were
the very people to lie to us...

...it's outrageous.

I don't know a lot about
what happened to Pat...

...but the last few days
have not been very pleasant.

It's only been a week
and it ain't getting any better.

It's a horrible thing to lie.

It's an atrocity that they would take a
young man with honorable intentions...

...who served his country...

...and lie about how he died
to promote a war.

To use him as a political--
A propaganda tool, basically.

That is immoral.

The five shooters never gave a
credible explanation for their actions.

But by the time
the Tillmans had unredacted...

...the entire box of documents...

...they understood that the deception
about their son's death...

...went much higher
than the soldiers on the ground.

Pat Tillman has been killed.

Forty-five minutes later,
he's been killed by fratricide.

"Oh, shit. What do we do now?"

"Okay, let's spin this
as a heroic action.

We'll turn his dead body
into a recruiting poster."

They destroyed his uniform,
his body armor, his helmet, his diary.

Every piece of evidence
that could ever be used...

...to explain what happened
is eliminated.

You just don't do shit
without telling your superior officer.

"Oh, I'm gonna go burn Pat's uniform."

No.

You don't piss without permission...

...so this goes pretty damn high.

Once the Tillmans
shifted their focus...

...to the higher-ups responsible
for the cover-up...

...the lead investigator
assigned to their case...

...began publicly suggesting
that it was time to move on.

I don't know. These people,
they have a hard time letting it go.

It may be
because of their religious beliefs.

- I don't know how an atheist thinks.
- Right.

But I can only imagine that,
that would be pretty tough.

Right.

If you're an atheist,
then you don't believe in anything?

If you die, what is there to go to?
Nothing. You're worm dirt.

It's pretty hard
to get your head around that.

So you suspect that's the reason
why this thing's dragging on.

I think so. There's not a whole lot
of trust in the system.

- Right.
- Or faith in the system.

It was my understanding at the time
that this investigation is over...

...that this has been closed...

...they're not gonna give me the truth,
it's a done deal.

And that being said, there's not much
I can do to force the issue.

So I wrote them a letter.

I just went through and blew out...

...just about everything
they considered to be a fact.

And explained to them
why that is a lie...

...and concluded by telling them
that I have low regard for them.

I just wanted to tell somebody off.

Unbeknownst to Pat Sr., the Army
considered the wording of his letter...

...to be a formal accusation
of criminal misconduct.

This automatically initiated
a new investigation...

...by the inspector general's office.

Thank you for being here today.

It's kind of obnoxious that the letter
did have the impact that it did.

It's like, wait a minute, my mom has
been working her ass off for years...

...and if she knew all she had to do
was tell you to go fuck yourself...

...and you'd actually do your job,
I'm sure she would have done that...

...two and a half years before.

After an 18-month inquiry,
the Army secretary announced...

...that the military was finally ready
to assign blame.

We present to you the results
of the Wallace Investigation...

...into the tragic death
of Corporal Pat Tillman.

I'm on my way to an anniversary
in Las Vegas.

I get a phone call from my wife
that says, "Hey, you're on CNN."

Up first, new information
about who bungled the initial probe...

...into the friendly-fire death...

...of Army Ranger
and former football star Pat Tillman.

Let's go to the news conference now
over at the Pentagon. Let's listen in.

General Wallace did find
a senior official...

...Lieutenant General Kensinger,
the senior leader in...

...the administrative chain of command
for the 75th Ranger Regiment...

...found him guilty of deception.

General Kensinger was the captain
of that ship and his ship ran aground.

It ran aground because he failed--

Devastating. Devastating to be called
the villain in the process...

...or the captain
who ran his ship aground...

...and let all his soldiers down.

General Kensinger
was the public face of the Army...

...in the weeks after Pat's death.

I will not be taking questions.

The Army said that Kensinger knew
about the fratricide...

...when he attended
Pat's memorial service.

He would be stripped
of his third star.

But as a reporter noted...

...there may have be another reason
why Kensinger took the fall.

--yet, all the blame
falls on General Kensinger.

I'm just trying to make sense of that.

He happens to be retired,
is there a coincidence there?

The fact that he--

He's the only one
who's really being singled out.

I believe the buck stops
with Kensinger.

He was the senior leader
in the chain of command for--

I don't think the buck stops
at Kensinger.

There's no way this cover-up started at
the three-star level. It had to go higher.

You look at what Kensinger's role--

I don't think Kensinger would have
been inclined to cover it up...

...if he wasn't ordered to.

--if he performed his duty--

I mean, he was culpable.

I mean, he could've easily
picked up the phone and called us...

...you know, but this is their life,
this is their career...

...and they're terrified of losing
what they've worked so hard for.

My wife says
I'm too much of a soldier.

I've been doing it, you know,
since 17.

When somebody tells me something,
tells me to go do something, you say--

In the Army, you salute and, you know,
about-face, and go get it done.

To think that, you know, this is how,
you know, you get treated.

Thank you. Thanks a lot.

With the end
of the press conference...

...the Army declared
the Tillman matter over.

But two days later,
as if in response to this...

...a reporter received
an anonymous leak.

It was a copy of a top-secret
internal communiqu�...

...known as a P4 memo...

...sent just seven days
after Pat's death...

...and a full month before
the family learned of the fratricide.

After this briefing that we received
from the inspector general...

...someone from Associated Press
was sent a P4 memo...

...that went out
to the highest generals in the land.

Not only did the P4 memo
clearly state...

...that Pat was killed by friendly fire,
but it left no doubt...

...that the cover-up reached well
above General Kensinger's rank.

Thank you, all.

General Stanley McChrystal
had sent the P4 memo on April 29th...

...after White House speechwriters
had requested details...

...about Pat's death
from the Pentagon.

The P4 memo states they must
warn the president about this...

...because they'll be giving speeches
and they shouldn't be embarrassed...

...if the circumstances of Pat's death
become public.

He set aside a career in athletics--

The warning seemed to work.

In a speech,
given two days before the memorial...

...the president avoided
the very details of Pat's death...

...that his speechwriters
had requested.

Friends say that this young man saw
the images of September the 11th...

...and seeing that evil,
he felt called to defend America.

Our suspicions in the beginning were
very much validated by that P4 memo.

These generals had plenty of time...

...to make sure that we, as a family,
were told the truth...

...but they chose not to tell us.

The P4 memo clearly showed...

...that while America was being told
the valorous account of Pat's death...

...the entire chain of command
not only knew it was a lie...

...but were urgently concerned
about the implications...

...should the truth get out.

Armed with this new evidence...

...the family was able to take
their case above the military...

...and in April 2007, the House of
Representatives convened hearings...

...to investigate whether there had
been a cover-up in the Tillman case.

The first testimony given
was from the man...

...who had remained silent
throughout the ordeal...

...Pat's brother, Kevin Tillman.

Even after discovering
that the entire platoon...

...had been lying to him
about the fratricide...

...Kevin had insisted on completing
the full term of his enlistment.

Once he got out of the Army,
Kevin went into seclusion...

...refusing, until now,
to speak publicly about his brother.

My name is Kevin Tillman.

Two days ago
marked the third anniversary...

...of the death of my older brother,
Pat Tillman. Spera, Afghanistan.

To our family and friends,
it was a devastating loss.

To the nation,
it was a moment of disorientation.

To the military, it was a nightmare.

But to others within the government,
it appears to have been an opportunity.

A terrible tragedy was transformed
into an inspirational message...

...that served instead, to support
the nation's foreign-policy wars.

After the truth of Pat's death
was partially revealed...

...the Army was now left with the task
of briefing our family...

...and answering our questions.

With any luck, our family
would sink quietly into our grief...

...and the whole unsavory episode
would be swept under the rug.

However, they miscalculated
our family's reaction.

Through the amazing strength
and perseverance of my mother...

...the most amazing woman
on earth...

...our family has managed to have
multiple investigations conducted.

However, while each investigation
gathered more information...

...the mountain of evidence was
never used to arrive at an honest...

...or even sensible conclusion.

That is why we ask Congress...

...as a sovereign representative
of the whole people...

...to investigate Pat's death.

Anything less than the truth
is a betrayal of those values...

...that all soldiers who have fought
for this nation have sought to uphold.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much
for your testimony.

Ms. Tillman, I know he was speaking
for both of you.

Is there anything you want to add?

I would like to say...

...we have been asked,
over and over again:

"Well, what can we do for your family?
How can we appease you?"

And it makes me sick.

It's not about our family.

Our family will never be satisfied.
We'll never have Pat back.

But what is so outrageous
is this isn't about Pat.

This is about
what they did to a nation.

Pat died for this country.

He believed it was a great country
that had a system that worked.

It's not perfect,
no one has ever said that...

...but to write these glorious tales
is really a disservice to Pat...

...and to all the other soldiers.

You're diminishing
their true heroism.

It may not be pretty, it may not be
like out of a John Wayne movie...

...but that's not what war is all about.
It's ugly, it's bloody, it's painful.

Everyone should understand
what's going on.

And we shouldn't have smokescreens
thrown in our face.

Thank you.

Pat Tillman was the most famous
enlisted man in the military.

Pat Tillman is killed.
It's obvious that it was fratricide.

The idea, the very idea, that anyone
in that chain of command...

...would dare keep this information
from anyone above them...

...is absolutely inconceivable.

Pat Tillman received a letter
congratulating him on his enlistment...

...under the signature
of Donald Rumsfeld.

The Secretary of Defense didn't
give me a congratulations letter...

...whenever I joined the Army.

Not only did Rumsfeld write a letter
to Pat right after he enlisted...

...he also sent a high-priority e-mail
to the secretary of the Army...

...saying that this guy is very special,
we need to keep an eye on him.

At the urging of the Tillmans,
the investigating committee...

...requested testimony
from the recipients of the P4 memo...

...as well as Secretary Rumsfeld
and General Richard Myers.

We finally were face to face
with the highest generals in the land.

You know,
the former Secretary of Defense.

And then we also had people
that have the power...

...to make these guys accountable.

...to make these guys accountable.

General Abizaid, let me start with you.
When did you receive this memo?

On the 29th, General McChrystal
sent his message...

...and it went to my headquarters
in Tampa...

...and it was not retransmitted...

...for reasons of difficulties with our
systems within the headquarters...

...until the 6that the earliest--

Yeah, yeah.
General Abizaid didn't get the fax...

...and there was a mix-up at the office.
That's a good one.

Probably the 6th. It's a guess.
I can't be sure exactly of the date--

Abizaid is responsible for the entire
Middle East and North Africa...

...and this guy's not gonna
be informed?

Well, General Myers,
let's turn to you.

The other generals recounted
similar stories.

I can't tell you.
I don't know how I knew.

To the best of my knowledge,
I've never seen this P4.

First of all, on the message,
on the P4, I was an info addressee...

...which is not
the primary addressee--

In the next three hours,
the committee would hear...

...some variation of the phrase
"I don't recall," 82 times.

I just don't know.

Incredibly, this urgent warning had
somehow slipped through the cracks.

There's an interesting thing
about the P4 that says:

"Deliver during normal duty hours."
And so, again--

It was very disappointing.

That's not even the word,
we were angry.

All the generals were lying,

They should have been called
on a lot of things and they weren't.

I thought this was
an oversight committee.

To me, an oversight committee...

...is someone that does
a bit of investigation...

...it's not a cheerleading outfit.

I believe
this is appropriately handled...

...and those who made errors
were held accountable.

Ninety-nine point nine percent
of the military do an outstanding job...

...and I thank you
for setting an example.

These folks were held accountable.
Is that correct, General Myers?

General? All generals?

From what I understand,
that's correct.

You know, a lot of politics
is theatrical wrestling, you know...

...which, behind the scenes it's like,
"Okay, let's don't get anybody hurt."

Mr. Secretary, thank you
for being with us today.

How and when did you learn
that Corporal Tillman had been killed?

I don't recall precisely
how I learned that he was killed.

Okay.

Before he did so,
were you aware that President Bush...

...was going to reference
Corporal Tillman...

...in a correspondents' dinner speech
on May 1st?

No.

It was embarrassing to watch.

I have no recollection
of discussing it--

These guys didn't have
the ammunition...

...to cross-examine him
and catch him in a lie.

Well, let me conclude the hearing
by just indicating the facts...

...that General Myers and General
Brown knew at the end of April.

General Abizaid learned on May 6th.

Secretary Rumsfeld learned
on May 20th.

Could I correct--?
Sir, could I make a point here?

Who? Yes, Mr. Secretary?

I wanna make sure
it's precisely accurate.

I do not believe I testified
that I learned on May 20th, and if I--

If that impression's been left,
I don't want that left.

My testimony is that
I just simply do not know...

...when I first learned
of the possibility of fratricide.

- I appreciate that correction.
- Thank you.

- And, sir, if I may?
- Yeah.

I also wanted to make sure
that the 6this a logical day.

- It's not the day.
- Okay.

It's the best that my staff and I
could come to the conclusion--

Well, you were all very busy.
There was no question about it.

Sir, one other thing,
if I could interrupt to also correct.

Your statement was that
I knew about the friendly fire.

I knew that there was an investigation
ongoing...

...about the potential for friendly fire.

That's goes for me too.
That's exactly right.

- And for me, as well.
- Okay.

At the point that
they let Abizaid off the hook...

...that's the point where
Dannie knew...

...you know, that this is as far
as it was gonna go.

Thank you, sir.

That concludes our business and the
committee hearing is adjourned.

On the way out
of the congressional hearing...

...this congressman,
he squats down next to me...

...and he holds out his hand
to shake my hand...

...and he just wanted to tell me
that he's proud of me...

...and he's proud of my son.

I just said, "Get out of here.
Get away from me."

He would not go away,
he wanted to keep talking.

I pulled my hand away from him,
I said, "Get out of here, right now.

Get away from me."

Where does this stuff end?

It's been four years.

None of the actors in this matter
have been held accountable.

But that's certainly no fault
of Dannie's.

Pat would be nothing but unbelievably
proud for her, you know.

I mean, she took it
as far as she could take it.

She did everything in her power
to fight for Pat.

And I mean,
she knocked it out of the park.

Unfortunately, the fucking government
moved the fence back, and it--

You know, that was it.

It's about all I can do at this point.
We've sort of, you know--

The questioning has sort of
run its course.

I guess I held out hope that at
the last hour we would get answers...

...but, no, that's not what happened.

I don't think there's much else
that can be done.

The be all and the end all...

...is not whether or not
Congress follows through.

Like it or not, there's a public
dimension to Pat Tillman...

...and it ain't gonna go away.

That's a dangerous thing
to fool around with though.

It's dangerous
to lionize people like Pat.

When people who are attracted
to the mystique of Pat Tillman...

...begin to actually study
who Pat Tillman was...

...they're gonna find out
that this story doesn't fit...

...into something that's all tidy
and mythic.

The danger of something like this...

...is it's an opportunity
for reality to break through.

People start asking questions...

...and then all of the sudden,
the Tillman story changes.

I've talked about it with my dad
actually, and it was just like:

"It'd be really neat to have a statue of
Pat where he's laughing his ass off."

You wanna make him a myth?

Go ahead and make him a myth,
just be accurate with it.

You know, if he could walk on water
in these myths...

...then let him have a beer
every once in a while...

...and let him hang out with friends
and let him be gracious...

...and let him be sensitive
and let him be funny...

...and let him be all the things
that he was.

When I talk about Pat--

And everybody is sort of on the same
page, at least, you know, the family.

That when you talk about Pat, he's
sort of like sitting in the room with you.

I mean, and that's such a--
That says so much about him.

I can conjure his face,
I can conjure his laughter.

You know, he just had this quality
to him that he so loved life...

...and he would want us to,
you know, move on, move forward.

I feel like, at least I've done
what I can for him.

And now, it's just the idea
of just kind of moving on...

...and just kind of bringing him
with us, sort of.

A few more seconds.

- That's it, we're done.
- All right.

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