How does one disprove a negative?

The friendly-fire death of Cpl. Pat Tillman and its entire aftermath is sad, but maybe the saddest thing next to Tillman's death, and the agony of his family, is that it didn't have to be that way. Somehow, our culture, led by our breathless, context-lacking media and over-lawyered society, have redefined friendly-fire, or fratricide, as something to be ashamed of.

Further, one can only conclude that our military and government leaders fortify this silly culture, perhaps due to fear of lawsuit, by treating our population as though they were not rational and mature enough to understand that in war, fratricide happens.

During a foggy morning in the French and Indian War, Col. George Washington's First Virginia Regiment accidentally attacked the Second Virginia Regiment, causing more than 30 casualties.

Thank heavens Col. Washington didn't have to answer to our modern Congress, else he'd have never made president.

One recalls no Southerner demanding Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee confess "what they knew, and when they knew it!" after subordinates accidentally killed their beloved Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson. In the Civil War alone author Webb Garrison catalogued 150 instances of friendly fire (long before the era of the cluster bomb).

Friendly fire in the modern era has naturally been far more destructive, such as: Twenty five GIs were killed and 131 wounded when some of 1,800 Allied bombers missed their German targets; or, 318 US GIs gunned down in mid-air by their own troops while parachuting during the 1943 Sicily invasion.

Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War likewise saw their share of friendly-fire.

But here we are today, with Tillman's brother, Kevin, who served with Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, issuing blanket condemnation without a shred of proof towards the full chain of command, from local Afghanistan leaders all the way to the White House.

"It's a little disingenuous to think the administration didn't know," Tillman claimed. Conspiracy mongers and Democrats who care not one iota for the Tillman's plight naturally seized upon those comments for their own agendas. But, if meritlessly accused, how does one disprove a negative?

A professional soldier should know better.

Pat Tillman was killed on April 22, 2004. The US military officially notified the Tillman family that the cause of death was friendly-fire on May 29, 2004, or about a month later.

Is a one month delay to get the facts straight unreasonable? Maybe, maybe not.

And the military is not without blame. U.S. Army Spc. Bryan O'Neal told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform yesterday that "I was ordered not to tell him [Tillman's brother]" about Pat Tillman's cause of death.

Thus, there appears, at least in the low levels, to have been an initial attempt to delay or obfuscate the findings. But what I don't understand is why?

Why does the military willingly swallow the poison pill an irresponsible, immature media and combative antiwar crowd serve it?

Why not instead have said, "Pat Tillman was tragically killed in a friendly-fire event yesterday. We honor his service and express our sorrow to his family. While working tirelessly to minimize such occurrences, all should understand that so long as the human element remains in war friendly fire will always be a danger"?

One expects the Tillman family to lash out when in pain. One fully expects the media and many in the Democratic Party to continue to exploit the situation and act like boobs.

One should not expect our military to go along.

Labels: Afghanistan, fratricide, friendly fire, Tillman