Memorial Day thoughts on Pat Tillman

Friendly fire killed Pat Tillman. Why did it take over a month for the Army to admit it?

"The results of this investigation in no way diminish the bravery and sacrifice displayed by Cpl. Tillman," said Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, who made the surprising announcement in Fort Bragg, N.C.

Vigorous, but irrelevant. I don't think anyone was questioning the bravery of Corporal Tillman, the former NFL starter who gave up celebrity and fortune to become a Ranger. He was brave and idealistic and his sacrifice was irrevocably real.

It's Army's conduct many people should and will question, both in creating a situation were super-skilled Rangers could kill each other with friendly fire, and their delay in revealing the true circumstances of a tragedy. Again. I won't even go into the policy ramifications of diverting priorities (not to mention earmarked millions) from Afghanistan to Iraq. I cringe when I read that line in Sports Illustrated, "Tillman, and the thin detail of Rangers and Afghani fighters in his patrol..."

Over the past five weeks, the U.S. military has received tremendous positive and free publicity, courtesy of the news and entertainment media, as well as the NFL. Don't the actual events leading to Tillman's death demand the opposite - that the military deserves blame? And wouldn't our military have the ethical burden not to benefit from a tragedy it caused, by coming clean as soon as possible?

Or perhaps we should file military ethics under "O", along with military intelligence. Americans, civilian and uniformed alike, deserve better.