MARY TILLMAN'S BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN new book, "Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman," is a both a moving portrait of her son's tragically short life and an indictment of a military and government that misinformed her about the cause of the Army Ranger's death.

"Boots on the Ground" shifts between touching vignettes about Pat's youth and rise to fame as an NFL football player to sad accounts on how his family struggled with grief and with a bureaucracy seemingly determined to obscure how and why Pat Tillman died.

In the wake of September 11, Tillman signed up for the military with his brother Kevin, a minor-league baseball player. After Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, his family and the public were told that he'd been shot while heroically battling the enemy.

About a month later, the truth emerged: He was shot by another Ranger.

In his mother's account, the family is told so many different stories about how Pat died that it becomes impossible to determine what happened that day. In the end, Mary believes "Pat was killed in a senseless act by soldiers who were wildly and inexplicably out of control."

But she leaves open the possibility that he was murdered. The one thing clear to Mary Tillman is that the American army and government intentionally misled the American public.

"Pat's death was not thoroughly investigated," Tillman said. "I think it was prompted by the [Bush] Administration — they were prompted to cover it up, because the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was breaking that week. Things were falling apart in Fallujah. The most casualties of the war [occurred] in April 2004. They wanted Pat's death to deflect attention from those things and the only way they could do that was to turn it into this grandiose narrative.

"They never really found out what Pat did out there," Mary continued. "They made up a story before they found out what his actions were. His uniform was destroyed, his equipment was destroyed — it was not sent back to show to the medical examiner. All these things are acts of disrespect. I don't think any soldier believes that will happen. They know there is a possibility of death, being wounded — but they don't expect the government to disrespect their service."

Tillman will further discuss her book and her son via a live chat on WashingtonPost.com at noon on May 12 and in a reading that evening at Olsson's-Penn Quarter.

» EXPRESS: Do you think the response to Pat's death fits a broader pattern of disinformation and attempts to mislead the American public?
» TILLMAN: Yes, most definitely. As I pointed out in the book, there are other soldiers whose deaths were not accurately described. Coincidentally, many of these soldiers were killed shortly after Pat's fratricide went public. I think to have Pat's death an admitted fratricide and then to have to admit that these other deaths were from fratricide was just too much of an embarrassment.

» EXPRESS: In your book, you describe being told many different stories about how Pat died. Do you ever feel that you'll never get to the bottom of what happened that day?
» TILLMAN: I feel like the family won't know the truth. But I think presenting to the public what we've been through is healing. It's something that we've done for Pat and hopefully it'll help other soldiers and their families — those that feel that there's something amiss, our story can validate them. I think it is validating to read that they're not alone if they've experienced something like this. This is not just an isolated incident. This is something that actually happens to many soldiers.

» EXPRESS: Do you have an idea of what happened that day, or are you still very confused about what happened?
» TILLMAN: I think the soldiers came into an ambush situation which was very chaotic and confusing. There weren't a lot of enemies shooting at them, but because it was in a canyon, it sounded like it was. [Eventually] they were not afraid anymore. They were pumped up from adrenalin and they just started shooting wildly. They almost shot the soldiers in the vehicle behind them. It was an act of gross negligence.

And because it was an embarrassment, the whole situation was covered up. And in doing that, they covered up a crime, because rules of engagement were broken. Breaking rules of engagement is a punishable crime and it should have been investigated. The soldiers who were involved in this probably shouldn't have gone right back out with other soldiers on missions. You know, they shot at buildings and some of those buildings had children in them. It was very careless behavior.

» EXPRESS: Who do you ultimately hold responsible — Rumsfeld? Do you think a decision was made at the very highest levels to mislead the public about the cause of Pat's death?
» TILLMAN: Yes. I mean, Pat was on his radar. He had written a letter to Pat when he enlisted. He also sent a memo to the then Deputy Secretary of the Army — who is now the Secretary of the Army — Pete Garen, saying Pat was a very special person and, "We should keep an eye on him." Yet Rumsfeld said in a hearing that he had no recollection of when Pat was killed or when he learned it was a fratricide, which I don't believe.

» EXPRESS: Has anyone been held accountable for covering up the cause of Pat's death?
» TILLMAN: Well, there are soldiers and officers who have had slaps on the wrist. General Kensinger had a star taken away. But the consequences are not severe. The army has tended to use General Kensinger as a scapegoat, but I don't believe that he's ultimately responsible for the cover-up. Wesley Clarke said the same thing last summer: A cover-up like this does not start at the three-star level.

» EXPRESS: Has writing this book and doing these kinds of interviews brought you any peace?
» TILLMAN: Yes, it has. I feel it's a gift to Pat and to my family. It helps put some closure to it. There's only so much we can do and I think we've exhausted our resources at this point. You know, we have no intention of taking anyone to court. Going through the system the way we have, our hope was that the system would work. These soldiers are going off to fight for their country — for this system, for a system that works — and we were hoping that the system would work in giving us answers.

» EXPRESS: Do you feel it's worked?
» TILLMAN: To a degree. We have come up with more details of what happened. I'm able to piece together what I believe happened. But it's very hard, once you start a series of lies, to at the last hour then admit that everything was a lie. That's very hard for any person or any institution. I'm not expecting that.

» EXPRESS: Are there other goals for your book beyond paying tribute to Pat and helping other military families feel that they're not alone?
» TILLMAN: Well, I hope the book impresses on people that they need to be vigilant about their government. A lot of people don't pay a lot of attention to what is going on, and because there's no draft, people don't feel closely connected to what is going on.

But the military's voice is the public and if the public is apathetic, thing like this do take place. People should be outraged when these kinds of things happen. And I'm hoping that this book will instill in people that they need to be vigilant about their government. I was healthily suspicious anyway. It's always good to be suspicious of any power. It saddens me that the government would be responsible for this and I believe that they were. I think the administration had an active role in covering it up.

When one of the investigative officers asked one of the high-ranking generals about Pat's death, this general indicated that they knew within 24 hours that Pat's death was a suspected fratricide. And one of the generals said it was like, "Here's the steak dinner, but we're giving it to you on a garbage can cover. You got it. You work it."

To me, that suggests that in their eyes Pat's death was a good thing — they could utilize it for positive propaganda for the war, but unfortunately, it was a fratricide, so, "We're gonna have to spin it."

It's very disgusting.

» Olsson's, Penn Quarter, 418 7th St. NW; Mon., 7 p.m., free; 202-638-7610 (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

Written by Express contributor Tim Follos
Mary Tillman photo by Richard Drew/AP; Pat Tillman photo via AP Photography Plus via Williamson Stealth Media Solutions

Posted by Express at 9:06 AM on May 12, 2008
Tagged in Books , Entertainment , Gallery Place-Chinatown , The District , Top Stories