A Sad Ending

There was more violence in Paktika province today, near Tora Bora, Afghanistan. The fighting was centered around the Tillman Fire Base, named after the NFL player who gave up a multi-million dollar career to enlist in the Army and fight Al-Qaeda. He was later killed in the fighting in Tora Bora and exalted as a hero who sacrificed his life to serve his country.

After, the real circumstances of Pat Tillman’s death emerged, and the Army revealed he was actually killed when a friendly unit raked Tillman’s position with machine guns. That is unfortunately normal fog of war stuff—friendly fire deaths are routine. What is shocking about Tillman’s death is how the Army deliberately covered it up, painting him as a selfless hero knowing full well that he was killed by his own side. A new investigation blames the entire chain of command, right up to the generals in charge, for their lies about the circumstances of Tillman’s death.

As fas as I’m concerned, Tillman’s heroism is not in doubt—he made a major sacrifice to serve his country, and he gave his life doing it. That is an honorable, respectable thing to do. But the U.S. Army’s attempt to cover up and lie about how he died… Well, that is beyond shameful.

An amazing story on Tillman’s life and death, at Sports Illustrated.

This post was written by...

Joshua Foust – author of 1771 posts on Registan.net.

Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust