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Army to Discipline 7 in Tillman Case, ABC Reports

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Posted on Jul 26, 2007

The Army is punishing seven officers for mishandling the Pat Tillman case, according to ABC News.  The harshest punishment reportedly is being meted out to Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who allegedly deceived investigators about when he knew the facts about Tillman’s death.


ABC News:

Senior defense officials tell ABC that Army Secretary Pete Geren is likely to recommend that Defense Secretary Robert Gates strip Kensinger, a three-star general, of his stars, a move that would reduce Kensinger’s pension by approximately $1,000 a month.

Army officials would not confirm the punishments and cautioned that nothing had been finalized.

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By farmertx, July 27, 2007 at 10:03 pm #

The question who ordered it, if it actually happened (and with that bunch, the odds are, it did) is apt to be murky, even before Der Karl starts spin control.
No doubt the Shrub and Shootist have bright eyed folks giddy at the thought of being near such great men.No accounting for taste, huh?
People who are charged with seeing only good news is printed/released. Failing that, make sure lies are disseminated.
Anyhow, it is conceivable that none of the higher ups,ordered it. And it is as conceivable that had they known, they wouldn’t have stopped it from happening.
What ever it takes to advance their goals is ok by them.
Constitution hobble you? Hell, ignore it. Those guys who wrote were all wet anyhow. ‘Course, come the 4th, they will all be singing the praises to the Constitution and the Forefathers.
Uh, that’s assuming that the Shootist doesn’t have other plans…

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By shelly Gold, July 27, 2007 at 6:00 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The chaplain said that O’Neal told him he was hugging the ground at Tillman’s side, “crying out to God, help us. And Tillman says to him, `Would you shut your (expletive) mouth? God’s not going to help you; you need to do something for yourself, you sniveling ...”

O’Neil is the soldier who heard Tillman’s last word. It seems Pat Tillman was killed for being an atheist. Administrative wrist slaps really don’t cut it when there was conspiracy to cover up a murder. The highest ranking officer being disciplined will lose about $900 a month in retirement. He will still receive over $100,000 a year plus all kinds of fringe benefits. What about the soldier who murdered him????

Someone needs to make a very BIG FUSS about this. Call your congressperson/senators, please.

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By cyrena, July 27, 2007 at 6:44 am #

#89753 by tyler on 7/26 at 11:39 am

Tyler, you are so correct, and thanks for bringing up the fact that Pat and his brother had in fact begun to question the legitimacy of this war, as far back as even then.

I was NOT aware of that, and now, as more and more comes to the surface, it is that much more ominous sounding. As a matter of fact, according to another piece just posted, there is a question about his death now, based on the findings of an autopsy that shows 3 bullet holes in his forehead, that are close together, and appeared to be fired from a range of about 10 yards, as opposed to the 100 yards, that the “friendly fire” episode was allegedly to have involved.

At any rate, the “punishment” of these service people is nothing more than the “punishment” for the horrors at Abu Ghraib, and we KNOW what a scam that was. A few scapegoats selected to take the heat, when the CRIMES were pepetrated by those way at the top, who made it “policy” to torture.

It’s the same thing here. Never the real perpetrators, because they have (like everything else) totally forfeited the traditional things like “chain of command” and/or “rules of engagement” or anything that might be found in the rule-of-law-books or other documents. So, NOBODY is ever officially, “responsible” for these things. (other than the scapegoats, whose crimes are more ignornace than anything else.)
And, so it goes. Now, somebody else mentioned that there might be more blowback this time, since we’re talking about at least one of these guys, losing a pretty good some of money, (the officer) in terms of his pension. Other’s have lost more, and managed to remain silenced. But, who knows…maybe this will be one of the (dare I say)...“tipping points”? Could it lead to an entire cache of lurid details that we could pin much higher up the chain?

That would be good.

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By Pru, July 27, 2007 at 5:29 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The Pentagon lost its poster boy when Tillman changed his attitude to anti-war. That would have been a recruiting PR disaster—better to put him down and pin a heroic story on his chest . That way, the Boys in Brass would still have their “hero.”
The question is, who ordered it?

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By farmertx, July 26, 2007 at 8:46 pm #

Strange that a Lt Gen gets on the list for covering up the Tillman fiasco, yet the highest rank that they could find to charge in the torture case was a Sgt.
Oh the games people play, every night and day, now…

I’m with Quy Tran…will Pat rest any better? His family might feel a tad better, but I’d bet they’d want this to go on up the chain. You know, the guy who said it happened on my watch, so I am responsible? But that was an act of nature and this is just an act of stupidity on the Army’s part.

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By Johnny Doughey, July 26, 2007 at 4:36 pm #

Our leaders are just such.  They are the ones setting an example (leading) for those below to follow.  For many years now, this country’s leaders have been setting examples which are more or less destructive to our democracy as well as basic social system… and, if you look at our ever expanding prison system, it is working quite well.
We now consist of two gangster mobs (the public did not choose our leaders… the public chose between the candidates chosen for us by the two mobs).  Both mobs are self serving… they do not serve the common folk.  Yet the common folk (that’s us, guys) are continually recognizing that we are choosing between the lesser of two evils.
My belief is that the very act of choosing ANYONE who we believe is just the lesser of two evils is an evil act in itself and is still supporting evil.
Perhaps choosing someone outside the two mobs, despite being scarey because it is an unknown… is a much better choice… IMHO

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By QuyTran, July 26, 2007 at 4:10 pm #

Could Pat Tillman rest in peace with such buffoonery ?

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By tyler, July 26, 2007 at 3:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

While I think that if they can find these 7 officers guilty, great.  I think, though, the problem extends higher than the 7 officers.

Pat’s brither, Kevin, has said that both he and his brother were questioning the validity of the US operations in the middle-east after their first tour, and discussed it at great length.  I also read that Pat had intentions of meeting with Noam Chomsky to discuss his concerns. 

That early on into the conflict, if a high profile soldier like Pat Tillman were to publicly question the US occupation of the middle-east, it would’ve been a PR disaster for the bush admin.

So its great if they can put a few people away for the wrongful and tragic killing of someone who walked away from millions to follow his honorable convictions, but I feel that these 7 officers are just like lambs to the slaughter.  It goes higher than them.

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