Did the President Deceive Pat Tillman's Family?

Did President Bush know how Pat Tillman died just a week after his death and go along with the deception of his family? A speech may hold some clues.

Two days after a memo was sent (link to post below) by an Army general warning that "our country's leaders" might face "public embrassment" if they spoke wrongly about Tillman, President Bush spoke at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. He closed that speech talking about Tillman:

The loss of Army Corporal Pat Tillman last week in Afghanistan brought home the sorrow that comes with every loss, and reminds us of the character of the men and women who serve on our behalf. Friends say that this young man saw the images of September the 11th, and seeing that evil, he felt called to defend America. He set aside a career in athletics and many things the world counts important: wealth and security and the acclaim of the crowds. He chose, instead, the rigors of Ranger training and the fellowship of soldiers and the hard duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Corporate Tillman asked for no special attention. He was modest because he knew there were many like him, making their own sacrifices. They fill the ranks of the Armed Forces. Every day, somewhere, they do brave and good things without notice. Their courage is usually seen only by their comrades, by those who long to be free, and by the enemy. They're willing to give up their lives, and when one is lost, a whole world of hopes and possibilities is lost with them.

This evening, we think of the families who grieve, and the families that wait on a loved one's safe return. We count ourselves lucky that this new generation of Americans is as brave and decent as any before it. (Applause.) And we honor with pride and wonder the men and women who carry the flag and the cause of the United States.

May God bless them, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

The warning in the memo from Gen. McChrystal:

I felt that it was essential that you received this information as soon as we detected it in order to preclude any unknowing statements by our country's leaders which might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Cpl. Tillman's death become public," McChrystal wrote on April 29, 2004, to Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command.

"Unknowing statements" would be ones that contained words like "killed by a terrible enemy" or something along those lines. Words the kind of which President Bush utters every time he gets a chance. But words like that could have gotten get Bush in trouble if it later came out that he knew about the fratricide.

That speech does it. It could be about a guy who…died in a friendly fire accident.


Crossposted here