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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=526648
'Friendly fire' killed American football star in Afghanistan
By David Usborne in New York
31 May 2004
Military Officials conceded at the weekend that a former American
football star, who left his multimillion-dollar career to join the armed
forces after the 11 September attacks and was killed in action in
Afghanistan last month, was probably a victim of "friendly fire".
The death of Corporal Patrick Tillman on 22 April shocked the US and was
a reminder to many Americans of the continuing perils for soldiers in
Afghanistan as well as Iraq. At the time, the US Army said he had been
shot by enemy fire while on patrol south-west of Khost, near the
Pakistan border.
Giving few details, the Army offered the revised version of his fate
after reports that he may have been killed by "friendly fire" surfaced
in newspapers in Arizona on Saturday. Before signing up, Cpl Tillman
played for the Arizona Cardinals with a contract worth $3.6m (�2m) a
year. He served in Iraq last year and was sent to Afghanistan on a
second tour of duty.
"While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation
results indicate that Cpl Tillman probably died as a result of friendly
fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces,"
Lieutenant-General Philip R Kensinger told reporters at the Army Special
Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
Cpl Tillman's status as a national hero will be hardly dented by the new
details of his fate. It is an embarrassment for the US military,
however, which had earlier given a fairly detailed account of the events
leading up to his death. In that version, Cpl Tillman was said to have
died after the second unit in a two-unit convoy came under attack and he
turned back with his men to help his comrades.
"Through the firing, Tillman's voice was heard issuing fire commands to
take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground," read an army
citation when the soldier was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star
posthumously for valour. "Only after his team engaged the well-armed
enemy did it appear their fires diminished."
It now appears that an Afghan soldier who was alongside Cpl Tillman as
they returned to the first unit was mistaken as an enemy combatant by
one of the US soldiers and fired upon. Other US soldiers began shooting
in the same direction, at which point Cpl Tillman was fatally wounded.
It seems, moreover, that there were no enemy soldiers in the vicinity at
the time.
At a memorial service for Cpl Tillman held earlier this month, tributes
were led by Senator John McCain, who was held as a prisoner-of-war in
Vietnam. "While many of us will be blessed to live a longer life, few of
us will ever live a better one," the senator said.
Among those who were insisting that the heroism of Cpl Tillman remained
untarnished were officers at Fort Bragg, where his unit was based. "A
lot of us sacrifice something, but no one sacrificed as much as he did
to join," Sergeant Matt Harbursky said. "And it doesn't really matter
how he was killed; it's sad."
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