If any of you have been reading ESPN's E-Ticket investigation of the circumstances behind the death of Pat Tillman, or
zenbowl's incredible diary on Part 1 yesterday. Mike Fish's work here has focused on two things that I want to write about briefly, one which comes up in
Part 2, the question of the Silver Star, and something that I started thinking about because of the extensive reporting done by the worldwide leader in sports. First, what has happened to Pat Tillman's legacy and the anatomy of a cover-up, and the questions over the Silver Star. Second, the wish that all investigative reporting would be at the quality of Fish's work here. What ESPN is doing is something that is important to sports and politics in general. They're doing this fascinating thing called real investigation, which I wish the political media would actually try again.
Fish begins
Part 2 with a quote from Navy Seal and Senior Chief Petty Officer Steve White from Tillman's funeral, which leads us into the larger questions over the Silver Star:
"He made the call. He dismounted his troops, taking the fight to the enemy, uphill, to seize
the tactical high ground from the enemy. This gave his brothers and the downed vehicle
time to move off that target. He directly saved their lives with that move.
Pat sacrificed himself so his brothers could live."
While White was fed this story just before he gave Tillman's eulogy, others at the funeral, as it turned out, knew that White's understanding of the events was not accurate, and that the actual reasons, a case of fratricide and accidental death, were a distinct possibility. Fish notes that Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger Jr. knew that the fratricide question in Tillman's death was a distinct possibility, noting that
Documents given to the Tillman family and obtained by ESPN.com show that by the time the memorial service began, Kensinger already had been told that friendly fire was suspected in Tillman's death.
Kensinger justified his decision not to tell the family by noting that
"That was a memorial service. I didn't think it was my responsibility to go up to them and say, 'Hey, you know, this is a possible friendly fire.' "
On this, I agree with Kensinger that a memorial service would not have been a good time to do that. But to not accurately portray the different possibilities seems to be incredibly out of line. Tillman's family deserved better than to be given a story as though it were fact.
However, as Fish found, the knowledge of the possibility of fratricide went beyond simply Kensinger. Fish notes even the unknown individual who wrote the Silver Star application seems to have known about the possibility of death by own troops, noting,
In the transcript of his interview with Army investigators, the officer who wrote the recommendation acknowledged he purposely massaged the wording to be vague.
"We modified some of the verbiage because -- I put what I thought had happened," he said. "So some of the (earlier) verbiage describes the actions in combat fighting an enemy. And in good conscience, I couldn't write, 'Killed by the enemy,' on a Silver Star citation that 30 years down the road the family would spit on because it may have been fratricide."
Fish delves into the question of what would make someone worthy of the Silver Star. To clarify, Wikipedia gives us the germane definition of what defines who gets a silver star, noting as requirements that:
The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States not justifying a higher award. It may be awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S Armed Forces, distinguishes him or herself by extraordinary heroism involving one of the following actions:
* In action against an enemy of the United States
* While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force
* While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party
On those ends, it would seem that Tillman's actions, because their lack of involvement of an opposing force in the event, would not be those needed for the Silver Star. Others, as seen in Fish's article, disagree. I am hoping that more people have a better understanding of the requirements that can chime in on this issue.
I should clarify a few things here. Most importantly, I think that Pat Tillman is a hero, just are anyone who serves their country valiantly. He left a job that paid him millions a year to serve something he believed in, the war effort in Afghanistan. As has been reported, he was against the Iraq War and a reader of Noam Chomsky. However, he believed in the Afghan War because it was linked to the events of 9/11 and an actual attack on the United States. I honestly believe that serving is a valiant option. I have not served, so I do not try to pass judgement on someone without the facts, and regardless of what happened, Pat Tillman died a hero.
However, he did not die as someone who should receive a Silver Star. His actions, whether heroic, were not in the context of a Fish delves into the issue of why the cover-up occurred through Part 2 (which I linked to above). He focuses on the problems Bush was having in 2004 with the Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, etc., and the possibilities that a Tillman friendly fire death could have had on Bush and war public opinion. I hope people read that section as well. I'm not sure what to think on that end, though I am inclined to agree. Bush did talk about Tillman in a way it seems he didn't with other single soldier deaths.
Regardless of what did happen, Tillman, just like Jessica Lynch, was blown out of proportion by a media machine designed to create heroes of an effort that has failed in its objectives. This administration should be ashamed of their hero-making. Heroism isn't about sexy stories or famous people. It's about doing something that helps others. Tillman is a hero regardless of the story that is given. The spin created was about creating a myth designed to
One final point: The MSM should also be ashamed. I know that ESPN could count as the MSM because it is a subsidiary of Disney/ABC, but the fact it took a sports network to investigate this says a lot about the state of the media in this country (this is something that was discussed yesterday in the comments in zenbowl's piece, but should be expanded further)