TheWalk.com

E.J. MONTINI
REPUBLIC COLUMNIST

To the major television networks, newspapers and radio stations, reports Monday that a retired three-star general may be demoted, and others punished, for spreading misinformation about the death of Pat Tillman was a major news event.

To Tillman’s mom, “It’s a complete donkey show.”

I reached Mary Tillman on Thursday afternoon, after she and the rest of the family learned about the possible punishments. She described it as only the latest attempt by the military and the Bush administration to make sure that the buck stops before it gets to the proper destination: the White House.

“I believe that this (the cover-up and misinformation about Tillman having been killed by friendly fire) came from (former Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld,” Mary said. “And they’re just protecting him. . . . The public doesn’t understand what is going on. No matter what has been put out in the news, it hasn’t made a dent in what actually took place. Nobody quite understands how nefarious this is. I can tell you that there wouldn’t be this big show of punishment if there wasn’t something to this.”

After two major investigative reports found that Army officers provided misleading and inaccurate information about Tillman’s death and waited nearly five weeks before telling his family exactly how the former NFL star died, it appears the latest head to roll may be that of Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, now retired, who led Army special operations. Kensinger may face a demotion (which is tough on a pension) and a number of other officers supposedly will be punished in some way.

That’s not enough for Mary.

“There have always been things that have happened in the military that parents and family members are never aware of, and I think that’s sad,” she said. “Ultimately, I think that people can come to terms with the truth. And it’s important that they get the truth. But the problem with this situation is that they told us a lie. Not to spare us but to spare themselves. And not only did they withhold the truth, they concocted - fabricated - a story for their own purposes.”

There was a big public funeral after Tillman’s death, and a Silver Star citation that spoke of how Tillman supposedly “put himself in the line of devastating enemy fire.” Tillman’s brother, Kevin, was in the same unit.

“There was no ‘wrong’ information,” Mary said. “They knew almost immediately what had happened. Kevin came along not long after the fact and the others were ordered not to tell him anything. And he was flown out of there within half an hour. . . . The coroner and the medical examiner both thought when they saw (Pat’s) body that they didn’t believe that he was killed by the enemy. . . . Not only was the White House trying to cover up to make it look like some glorified situation to promote the war, but by doing that they’re covering up a crime.”

Mary holds out hope that congressional hearings still might get to the bottom of it, but she wonders if Rumsfeld can be compelled to testify.

In the meantime, she’s been involved in her own investigation of her son’s death and what happened afterwards. Mary and a co-author are working on a book.

“It’s been difficult with the way things keep changing,” she said.

In the years since Pat’s death, the Tillman family has been trying to work within the system and, at times, feeling betrayed by it. But persisting.

I asked Mary what she thinks of those who say that she should “move on.”

“To say that we haven’t moved on, well, those people don’t know us,” she said. “We celebrate Pat and we try to get the truth, too. This is something that I know Pat would want us to do. Not just for him, but for everyone else. I know that there are people out there who are ignorant of what is going on and believe that the military was just trying to spare us. That’s crazy talk. That’s someone who hasn’t lost anyone and who doesn’t understand that all you have is the truth.”

Kevin Tillman made a similar point in an essay he wrote for the Web site truthdig.com. It reads in part: “Somehow lying is tolerated. Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense. Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world. Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.”

There wouldn’t have been a controversy if the family had been told the truth from the beginning, Mary said. They understand that friendly-fire deaths occur. They accept that. What they won’t accept, she said, “are lies and cover-ups,” adding that what happened over the past couple of days, “is not the end of this.”

Something Mary told me a few years back explains that sense of persistence. She said, “For anybody who knows Pat, this has been heartbreaking. He was an extremely honest person. I don’t think the kid ever lied. He would have wanted all the truth to come out. The bad and the good. He deserves that much.”