Rumsfeld: There’s no cover-up,
Tillman really did die
The crochety old campaigner had one more bout left in him.
In front of a House committee Wednesday, former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied that the Pentagon covered up the 2004 death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.
Tillman is the former Arizona Cardinal who gave up the NFL in favor of joining the Army after Sept. 11.
“There is no doubt in my mind, sir, that you knew that friendly fire caused the death of Mr. Tillman,” Committee Chair Henry Waxman, D-Calif, declared.
“So the questions are a) when did you know it wasn’t enemy fire and b) why did you continue to present this charade to the American public and, above all, Mr. Tillman’s friends and family?”
Fair questions, to be sure, and ones that Rumsfeld answered by digging deep into his perplexing canon of greatest hits.
“With respect, we never denied that Mr. Tillman died,” he said. “That’s never been an issue. I’m not quite sure what this hubbub’s about, if you can call this a hubbub at all.”