Say Anything Blog

That’s what Democrat Wesley Clark thinks (his interview starts at about 1:13 in):

He essentially says that if Tillman was killed deliberately the orders “came from the top” and manages to invoke the idea of a Rovian plot along the way.  That Clark, as a former high-ranking member of our armed forces, is even entertaining such fantasies is a disgrace.

This conspiracy mongering comes at the same time of news that the Pentagon will be ending the careers of seven military officers for mishandling the investigation into Tillman’s death, and the news that military doctors who examined Tillman’s corpse were suspicious about the proximity of the bullet holes in his body.  They were close together, indicating that Tillman was shot from close range.

This is undoubtedly the genesis of a story about the government murdering one of it’s own soldiers that will last us for at least a couple of decades.  Much like the idea that 9/11 was a plot to foment war in the middle east and JFK was murdered by the CIA.

But personally, I subscribe to Occam’s Razor.  The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.  In the case of Tillman, he was killed by his own troops.  At the time the war in Iraq was relatively new, and the military didn’t want the public getting disillusioned with a sad story about a celebrity like Tillman who signed up to fight for his country only to be killed tragically by his own troops.  So they covered it up and try to claim he was killed by enemy fire.  They also subsequently squashed any attempt at a criminal investigation for fear that it would generate sensational headlines and further undermine the war effort (which it would have).

Bad move, not just because they got caught but also because it’s not good to lie to the public.  And especially not to the family of a fallen soldier.  But now the left - always eager to seize on the smallest bit of innuendo in their drive to undermine the war effort, the military and the Bush administration - is blowing this up into a conspiracy to murder Tillman who was allegedly going to become an anti-war hero (what basis there is for this, or how he’d do that from the middle of a battlefield in Afghanistan, I have no idea). 

Because that’s what is convenient for their political agenda.

In reality, Tillman’s story is that of a tragic accident.  He signed up for the military, and then was killed on the battlefield by an accident before he could fulfill his destiny.  Sad, but hardly the fodder for murder plots involving Karl Rove.