General McChrystal apologizes for cover-up in friendly-fire death of ex-NFL star

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General McChrystal apologizes for cover-up in friendly-fire death of ex-NFL star Pat Tillman

BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - The general taking over the Afghan war said Tuesday he was sorry for the coverup of ex-NFL star Pat Tillman's friendly fire death.

"I was a part of that, and I apologize for it," Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal told a Senate hearing.

Tillman was killed by fellow GIs in 2004 as his Ranger unit operated in eastern Afghanistan on the Pakistan border.

McChrystal signed off on a posthumous Silver Star medal for Tillman - who gave up a fortune as a pro football player to join the Army after 9/11 - though he knew it might be fratricide and not a firefight.

It took six probes before his family learned the truth: other troops mistook him for the enemy and shot him as he screamed, "I'm Pat F---ing Tillman!"

"There is nothing we can do to automatically restore the trust which was the second casualty," McChrystal said.

But the general, who commanded the supersecret Joint Special Operations Command then, denied the phony narrative of a raging firefight was anything more sinister than "mistakes" made to honor the famous GI.

"They were well-intentioned" but created "doubt and the sense of mistrust," he told the Armed Services Committee.

"The Army really failed the Tillman family," Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said.

Tillman's mother Mary did not respond to a request for comment.

McChrystal was equally grim about the Afghan war he inherits. Al Qaeda's command role over the Taliban and other insurgents "has increased," and despite losses from CIA missile strikes inside Pakistan its leadership "is largely intact," he said.

Still, McChrystal said the war "is winnable."

A general relinquishing his command today in eastern Afghanistan offered his own stark view of the border war in a video conference from there.

Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, who commands the 101st Airborne Division, said violence has increased "about 25%" over last year in a bloody trend since 2006. But he said the reason was the buildup of coalition forces engaging the enemy, rather than an increase in insurgent attacks.


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