Apr 1, 2007 4:53 pm US/Central
Pat Tillman's Mother Accuses Bush Of Hiding Facts
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ―
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Tillman was killed after his Army Ranger comrades were ambushed in eastern Afghanistan. (File)
AP
Mary Tillman is accusing President Bush of helping cover up the facts in her son's death, after new documents suggest Bush knew within a week that U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman had been killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
"We've always believed that the White House knew that Pat was killed by friendly fire. It's just a matter of trying to prove it," Mary Tillman told KCBS radio on Saturday.
The Pentagon maintained for five weeks the San Jose native and NFL star had been killed by enemy fire. New documents disclosed by the Associated Press show a top-ranking general tried to warn Bush one week after the April 22, 2004 death that friendly fire was likely to blame.
The White House says Bush never got the warning. But two days after the general issued his warning, Bush gave a speech paying tribute to Tillman. He avoided any reference to the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The president "essentially has covered up a crime in order to promote the war," said Mary Tillman. "Frankly the idea that Rumsfeld and the president did not know that Pat was killed by friendly fire is ludicrous."
On Monday of this past week, the Pentagon released the findings of an investigation into the circumstances of Tillman's death, and into whether the military covered them up. The investigators recommended that nine Army officers be held accountable for errors in reporting the friendly fire death to their superiors and to Tillman's family.
Tillman was killed after his Army Ranger comrades were ambushed in eastern Afghanistan. Rangers in a convoy trailing Tillman's group had just emerged from a canyon where they had been fired upon. They saw Tillman and mistakenly fired on him.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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