New Commander in Afghanistan Was Faulted in Pat Tillman Case

As the U.S. Senate considers approving Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the new top commander in Afghanistan, the case of Pat Tillman is likely to resurface.

Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety who quit the NFL to join the Army, was killed in Afghanistan in a friendly fire incident that the military initially attempted to cover up. And Time Magazine is reporting that McChrystal's role in the Tillman incident could mean his Senate confirmation won't go smoothly.

So what, exactly, was McChrystal's role? It's a bit complicated, but McChrystal sent a memo to other generals urging them not to say publicly that Tillman was killed by enemy fire because he thought, correctly, that Tillman had been killed by friendly fire. McChrystal sent that memo a day after he personally approved Tillman's Silver Star citation, which falsely claimed Tillman was killed by enemy fire.

TPM Muckraker reports:

An internal DOD report on the Tillman affair found that McChrystal should be held accountable for not notifying officials processing the Silver Star award that friendly fire was the likely cause of Tillman's death. But another army general found that McChrystal had acted reasonably in assuming that information he had received supporting the award recommendation was accurate.

We may never get a complete picture of everything that happened in the Tillman case. But we do know that it was a fiasco, and the Tillmans still think the military hasn't given their family straight answers. If McChrystal's appointment shines more light on what really happened, it may finally get the Tillmans closer to the truth.