New Afghanistan Commander Had Role in Tillman Episode

By Zachary Roth - May 11, 2009, 3:24PM
It looks Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man taking over as the new top commander in Afghanistan, was a key player in one of the more shameful episodes of the Bush administration's war on terror -- though it's unclear exactly how much blame, if any, he himself deserves.
In 2007, the Associated Press reported that McChrystal suspected when he approved a Silver Star citation for Pat Tillman that the former NFL star killed in Afghanistan may have been felled by friendly fire. McChrystal told military investigators that that suspicion had led him to send a memo to top generals, urging them not to say publicly that Tillman was killed under "devastating enemy fire."
That seems to put McChrystal on the side of the angels. But it's a bit more complicated. McChrystal wrote that memo just one day after approving the award. Questioned about that potential discrepancy by investigators, he said he nevertheless believed Tillman deserved the award, but explained: LinkHere