2007年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-Mary Tillman, Seeking the Truth About Her

As the Pentagon was briefing reporters yesterday, Pat Tillman's family was getting its own briefing at a hotel in San Jose, California.

Well, My name is Mary Tillman, and I'm Pat Tillman's mother.

Mary Tillman was one of those facing a number of Defense¹ Department officials. Tillmans were given a stack of documents, which join many others that she's gathered, and the military offered its latest explanation of what happened.

We believe we were given a very imbalanced presentation. A lot of the information they gave us was based on what the individuals that were actually in the shooter vehicle, that was theirs, you know, their point of view. They didn't give any kind of information based on anyone else in the situation. Um, I mean, it's a very complicated situation. That's why it's hard to, you know, put it in some kind of a nutshell. All I can say is that what we received was very imbalanced.

Well, I suppose there are at least two separate issues here. One is what actually happened to Pat Tillman on the battlefield.

Right.

And the other is what the US military did with whatever information it had about that over time.

Well, and the thing that's also upsetting is that the original investigation², the one that was done within hours of Pat's death, or the one that was, you know, started, you know, immediately after he died. And that particular officer indicated he saw evidence of homicidal negligence³ or criminal intent⁴. That investigation was sort of put to the side. And then another investigation was put into place. That original investigation we can't get our hands on and they say it's because it was never signed. Yet, the officer himself said he gave a recommendation⁵. You know, these kinds of things are very upsetting.

They told us that these young, these soldiers drove by, in a matter of fourth seconds, and shot up the ridgeline in a fog of war. Yet, when you go to the documents, it's very clear that witnesses indicate that these soldiers stopped the vehicle. Some of them got out of the vehicle. One for sure got out of the vehicle and was shooting. It's not like they drove by in a fog of war.

So on these two issues, what happened to Pat Tillman and what did the military do with the information that it had, the military says they made critical errors in reporting what they knew, but there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting. It sounds like you're not satisfied.

No, we're not satisfied with that. And we're not saying that Pat was intentionally⁶ killed, that, you know, I mean I don't know that is, I mean, we may have some questions about that, but that's nothing that we could ever prove. And I don't wanna get into that. But he died on the 22nd. His memorial service was May 3rd. They could have, they could have told us the truth. And if they didn't want to tell us the truth, they could have said that we don't know, we're doing an investigation. But what they did is they made up a story. That's not a misstep, and that's not an error. They made up a story. It was presented on national television. And we believe they did that to promote the war.

I imagine this, this meeting that you had with military officials yesterday must have been the latest, or perhaps the last of many meetings you've had where they've tried to explain what they know.

Right. And they always lie. And I'll be quite honest with you. The meeting was a travesty⁷. I mean, we were lied to..., we became, they told us that we were abusive. And I responded back that, you know, lying is a form of abuse, and we've been lied to for three years.

They said you were abusive to them.

They said we were abusive. And we were.

Were you raising your voice?

I wouldn't have wanted to have been them. I mean, we got to the point where we were extremely rude to them, but they weren't, they were just lying.

Mary Tillman is the mother of Pat Tillman. She spoke⁸ with us earlier this morning from San Jose, California. And you can read the Pentagon Inspector⁹ General's report on the death of her son at NPR. org.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

4 intent   

adj.急切的，专心的，专注的；n.意图，意向

参考例句：

• He was intent on the job he was doing.他专心致志于正在做的工作。
• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。

5 recommendation   

n.推荐（信）建议，优点，长处

参考例句：

• I wrote him a good recommendation.我为他写了一封很好的推荐信。
• This method deserves recommendation.这种做法值得提倡。

6 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

7 travesty   

n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化

参考例句：

• The trial was a travesty of justice.这次审判嘲弄了法律的公正性。
• The play was,in their view,a travesty of the truth.这个剧本在他们看来是对事实的歪曲。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。