Republic Washington Bureau
Aug. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Tuesday would not disclose why the Army has requested a Defense Department review of the Army's own investigation into former pro football player Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death.
But Gary Comerford, a spokesman for the Department of Defense's inspector general, whose office is conducting the review, said that it is not "uncommon" for various "elements" of the military to seek such reviews of their own investigations and that "we really can't tell how long it's going to take."
"There's really nothing further we can say or speculate on," Comerford said when asked about the focus.
The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time on Monday that its inspector general is reviewing the case, two months after the Army publicly acknowledged making mistakes in its investigation into Tillman's death.
Although the Army is being described as asking for the internal review, the move comes on the heels of vehement public criticism of the Army's investigation by Tillman's parents, Patrick Tillman Sr. and Mary Tillman.
Neither could be reached Tuesday at their homes in San Jose.
Their efforts to get the Pentagon to reopen the case has included recent contact with the office of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other members of Congress.
Pat Tillman, 27, walked away from a lucrative contract extension offered by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army in 2002.
On April 22, 2004, he was killed in southeastern Afghanistan by gunfire from his fellow Army Rangers, who mistook him for the enemy.
However, the Army did not say for five weeks that Tillman was not killed by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters but by a section of his own platoon.
The early Army announcements instead focused on the posthumous awarding of the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his actions and implied that he had been trying to suppress enemy fire when he was killed.
It was not until May 29 that year that the Army acknowledged that Tillman likely died under friendly fire.
And only after newspaper accounts about how the Army had held back information and after public complaints were registered from the family did the Army on June 9 issue a statement saying that "procedural misjudgments and mistakes" had been made.
The Army said that no cover-up was intended but conceded that the errors had contributed to "an air of suspicion" about Tillman's death.
As of Tuesday, however, the Pentagon still had not released the Army's official 1,600-page investigative report detailing the circumstances of Tillman's death.
The report remains out of the public's reach despite requests filed by The Arizona Republic and other newspapers under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Tillmans have the report, however, and have been pushing for its public release.
"What they're saying is untrue," Mary told The Arizona Republic in June, referring to Army statements.
And Patrick Sr., in a letter to the Washington Post published May 28, accused the Army of having conducted two "sham" investigations into his son's death.
He also alleged that the results of an earlier homicide investigation into his son's death had been were reworked by officers after the investigating officer refused to alter them. Superior officers even "deliberately falsified baseline facts," including distances and light conditions in the rocky area where his son was killed, he wrote.
He also said officers ordered all the physical evidence, including his son's uniform and body armor, destroyed by fire.
But Gary Comerford, a spokesman for the Department of Defense's inspector general, whose office is conducting the review, said that it is not "uncommon" for various "elements" of the military to seek such reviews of their own investigations and that "we really can't tell how long it's going to take."
"There's really nothing further we can say or speculate on," Comerford said when asked about the focus.
The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time on Monday that its inspector general is reviewing the case, two months after the Army publicly acknowledged making mistakes in its investigation into Tillman's death.
Although the Army is being described as asking for the internal review, the move comes on the heels of vehement public criticism of the Army's investigation by Tillman's parents, Patrick Tillman Sr. and Mary Tillman.
Neither could be reached Tuesday at their homes in San Jose.
Their efforts to get the Pentagon to reopen the case has included recent contact with the office of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other members of Congress.
Pat Tillman, 27, walked away from a lucrative contract extension offered by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army in 2002.
On April 22, 2004, he was killed in southeastern Afghanistan by gunfire from his fellow Army Rangers, who mistook him for the enemy.
However, the Army did not say for five weeks that Tillman was not killed by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters but by a section of his own platoon.
The early Army announcements instead focused on the posthumous awarding of the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his actions and implied that he had been trying to suppress enemy fire when he was killed.
It was not until May 29 that year that the Army acknowledged that Tillman likely died under friendly fire.
And only after newspaper accounts about how the Army had held back information and after public complaints were registered from the family did the Army on June 9 issue a statement saying that "procedural misjudgments and mistakes" had been made.
The Army said that no cover-up was intended but conceded that the errors had contributed to "an air of suspicion" about Tillman's death.
As of Tuesday, however, the Pentagon still had not released the Army's official 1,600-page investigative report detailing the circumstances of Tillman's death.
The report remains out of the public's reach despite requests filed by The Arizona Republic and other newspapers under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Tillmans have the report, however, and have been pushing for its public release.
"What they're saying is untrue," Mary told The Arizona Republic in June, referring to Army statements.
And Patrick Sr., in a letter to the Washington Post published May 28, accused the Army of having conducted two "sham" investigations into his son's death.
He also alleged that the results of an earlier homicide investigation into his son's death had been were reworked by officers after the investigating officer refused to alter them. Superior officers even "deliberately falsified baseline facts," including distances and light conditions in the rocky area where his son was killed, he wrote.
He also said officers ordered all the physical evidence, including his son's uniform and body armor, destroyed by fire.