Bush Knew Tillman was Killed by Friendly Fire

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tillman.jpgWell, the Bush administration sure does keep us busy at Mother Jones. We were just kicking back and relaxing a bit after the completion (and nomination for a national magazine award) of our massive Lie by Lie timeline. No rest for the weary: The AP reports today that Bush and the military knew almost immediately that former football star Pat Tillman had probably died from friendly fire. Seven days after Tillman’s death, Bush received a memo about the likely circumstances. He eulogized Tillman a few days later with no reference to friendly fire, and the Pentagon then deceptively awarded the dead soldier a posthumous Silver Star—an award for valor in combat. Tillman’s family learned a full month after the memo was written that their son died in friendly fire.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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