Fred Harteis News Articles - The Army moved to stanch the furor over the mishandling of the friendly fire death of Cpl. Pat Tillman in Afghanistan by censuring a retired three-star general for errors and deceptions and apologizing profusely to the Tillman family and the public for “mistakes, misjudgments and a failure of leadership.”
Army Secretary Pete Geren outlined the results and recommendations of the seventh and what he said he expected would be the Army’s final investigation of the death of Corporal Tillman, an N.F.L. player-turned-soldier, and its aftermath. The report asserted that there was no cover-up of the manner of his death, which officials decided was a battlefield accident and not a murder.
The report, by Gen. William S. Wallace, said Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr. had failed to follow procedures requiring him to notify the Tillman family and top officials about the investigation into the possibility of friendly fire and then lied to two sets of investigators about when he knew that Corporal Tillman’s death was caused by shots fired by fellow Army Rangers.
Mr. Geren agreed with the report’s recommendation that General Kensinger be censured and that a review board consider reducing him in rank to a two-star general.
Mr. Geren said that General Kensinger, who was head of special operations for the Army in 2004, provided a report to the acting secretary of the Army “that he knew to be false, which was his own sworn testimony,” and that he failed to show leadership.
“General Kensinger was the captain of that ship, and his ship ran aground,” Mr. Geren said.
Pat Tillman became a storybook figure when he decided to forsake a multimillion-dollar career in the National Football League, where he had been a star defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals, to enlist in the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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Source: NyTimes.com
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