FOR MANY Americans, Pat Tillman redefined the word “hero” when he was killed in Afghanistan. He was the archetypal golden boy, the all-American football star so stung by the horrors of September 11 that he turned his back on a fortune to fight for his country.

Now, however, just as the mythical heroics of Jessica Lynch, the teenage POW, gave way to an uglier tale of military incompetence in Iraq, so the truth about the death of the 27-year-old athlete in a hail of American bullets on April 22 was laid bare yesterday.

Tillman died in what a Washington Post investigation described as a catalogue of botched communications, wrong decisions and negligent shooting by inexperienced, pumped-up US Rangers. Yes, he died bravely and honourably, but his superiors “exaggerated his actions and invented details as they burnished his legend in public”.

Tillman was buried with full military honours and posthumously awarded a Silver Star after his death. Nearly five weeks passed before the US Army disclosed that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire, but it refused to expand. Only now have the details emerged of the death of the first National Football League player to volunteer for the front line since the Second World War.

Tillman and his younger brother, Kevin, a minor league baseball player, enlisted in the elite US Army Rangers in the spring of 2002, a few months after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. In the process, Tillman sacrificed a $3.6 million contract to play American football for the Arizona Cardinals.

The brothers served first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan, hunting down Taleban and al-Qaeda remnants.

The trouble began when a humvee in their 34-member platoon broke its fuel pump in Taleban-infested territory near the Pakistan border. The platoon commander was ordered by his company commander to split his men in two.

Tillman’s group went ahead to search for Taleban fighters in a village. The rest of the platoon, including his brother, were to rescue the stricken vehicle. As dusk fell, the second group was ambushed in a narrow canyon through which the first group had already passed. A firefight followed.

The second group raced from the canyon, guns blazing. As it did so, the first group heard the commotion. It could not contact its colleagues by radio because of the canyon’s high walls, so returned to help, with Tillman at the front. They fired to suppress the ambush.

In the darkness and confusion, the two groups mistook each other for guerrillas and opened fire. Army investigators concluded that they had ignored the normal rules of engagement and “poured an undisciplined barrage of hundreds of rounds into the area where Tillman and other members of (his group) had taken up positions”, according to the Post.

Tillman and the dozen other Rangers with him screamed and waved. Tillman fired a smoke grenade, the firing stopped and the men stood up. Then the firing resumed. By the time that finally it ended, Tillman and one other Ranger were dead. Tillman’s brother arrived at the scene, was told to take up guard duty and learnt of his death only when a colleague mentioned it. The Post turned up no evidence that any enemy Afghans were killed.

Private Lynch was similiarly transformed into a gun-toting diehard as she lay terribly injured in an Iraqi hospital at the beginning of that conflict. In fact, her convoy had taken a wrong turn and wandered into an ambush. Communications failed. Vehicles got stuck in the sand. Far from emptying her gun into her attackers, as officials had claimed, Private Lynch’s weapon jammed. She came home to reveal her anger at the lies told.

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