Was Pat Tillman's death covered up?

Sunday’s promise to the family of former-Army Ranger and sports hero Pat Tillman of an accurate account of the former NFL star’s death in Afghanistan comes amid increasing speculation that Tillman’s friendly fire death had been covered up, and may never be properly explained.

Tillman’s father Patrick Tillman, Sr. remains unconvinced he’ll learn what really happened along the Afghan-Pakistani border on April 22, 2004 when his son was killed. “…If you send investigators to reinvestigate an investigation that was falsified in the first place,” Tillman told the Chicago Tribune, “what do you think you're going to get?"

There is an indication that a cover up of some sort occurred after Tillman’s death, which was originally attributed to enemy fire from Taliban or Al-Qaeda combatants. Subsequent investigations, launched after it was determined that Tillman died from fire from other US forces in the area, revealed that (says the Tribune) “Officers destroyed evidence critical evidence and withheld the truth from Tillman’s brother, also an Army Ranger, who was nearby…”

The Army is now investigating whether criminal charges of negligent homicide should be brought against anyone involved in the affair.
That Tillman died from three bullets to the head after reportedly identifying himself to friendly forces in the area (“Cease fire, friendlies, I’m Pat fucking Tillman, damnit”) is already giving birth to conspiracy theories.

The Boyoubuzz.com implausibly echoes an altnerative news website that argues Tillman may have been killed under the order of “Neocons” who hated him for opposing the war in Iraq.

According to this report and others, Tillman turned his back on a US $3.6 m NFL contract to fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but did not support the Iraqi conflict.

Information on Tillman's politics came from an investigative piece in San Francisco Chronicle, who cites Tillman’s mother as a source.

Whether or not you believe that Tillman opposed the Iraqi war (Ann Coulter, for one, doesn’t), one thing is clear: Tillman was a far more complicated personality than his profile suggested. Like countless others, a sense of duty after 9/11 compelled him to volunteer and serve, but he remained, as this Nation article states, “a fiercely independent thinker” who intellectualised his service – his war – differently than many of his compatriots.

At this stage, there are more important questions than whether Tillman read Noam Chomsky and had reservations about Iraq. Did his commander in fact make the unorthodox decision to split his unit into two before his death, and if so why? Why was his death not immediately attributed to friendly fire? Why has Tillman’s family been unsatisfied with the official account of Tillman’s death thus far?

Tillman’s family and legacy deserves answers not because Pat Tillman was a celebrity, but because Tillman’s sense of duty is so similar to countless others. He is the public face of the uniformed members of his generation, and they’re the ones who are entitled to a true accounting of how and why he died.