The American football hero may be gone but details of his mysterious death in Afghanistan just won't go away. Most recently, as reported by Time Magazine, "Nine officers, including up to four generals, should be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan."
This is as good a time as any to contemplate how and why Pat Tillman ended up in position to be killed by his fellow soldiers. Here's how the New York Times described Tillman at the time of his death: "A graduate of Arizona State University, Tillman, a safety, played for four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. But as an unrestricted free agent in 2002, he turned town a three-year, $3.6 million contract offer from the Cardinals and enlisted in the Army."
Accordingly, when Tillman was killed, the predictable platitudes followed:
•Defensive tackle Corey Sears of the Houston Texans, who played with Tillman on the Cardinals from 1999 to 2000, said: "All the guys that complain about it being too hot or they don't have enough money, that's not real life. A real life thing is he died for what he believed in."
I wonder if Sears views Iraqis dying for what they believe in to be "a real life thing" or is that reserved exclusively for Americans? If Tillman were still alive, I'd like to ask him what exactly it was that he "believed in" enough to die for. Was it, say, for-profit health care for the few or pre-emptive wars or corporate welfare or maybe the death penalty? How about strip malls, Reality TV, SUVs, or cell phones? Maybe the right to vote for the next American Idol? I'd just like some clarification.
•Former Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis said Tillman who "represented all that was good in sports...proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling."
Definition of "greater calling": An ex-NFL player ruthlessly hunting CIA-created Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in a misguided, myopic attempt to avenge 9/11.
•"Pat Tillman personified all the best values of his country and the NFL," declared commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
What values, Mr. Tagliabue? The values outlined in our history texts or the values of militarism and greed this nation has lived by for over 200 years? (Did Tagliabue or Tillman ever read, say, Zinn's People's History or Blum's Killing Hope?) Can someone do me a favor and list the "best values" of both America and the NFL?
•"Where do we get such men as these? Where to we find these people willing to stand up for America?" asked former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Arizona.
Which America was Tillman standing up for-the bosses at Halliburton or the homeless guy I see every day on the subway steps? Do you know anyone who needed Tillman to "stand up" for them by bringing indiscriminate death and destruction upon Iraq and Afghanistan? Are we so numb to the clichés that we'll let them pass without comment or contemplation?
•More Hayworth: "He chose action rather than words. He just wanted to serve his country."
Again, what country was Tillman serving? The country personified by war criminals like Bush, Clinton, etc.? The country defined by corporate pirates? Indeed, Tillman wasn't serving the two million behind bars or the two million locked in nursing homes against their will. The action he chose over words didn't make our air or water cleaner or stop the suburban sprawl. Tillman could have chosen to serve his country by challenging the corporate-mandated status quo...but that's not how things work around here, is it?
•Even more from Hayworth: "He was a remarkable person. He lived the American dream, and he fought to preserve the American dream and our way of life."
What American dream? The dreams of Wal-Mart, Nike, and The Gap? Whose way of life-Wall Street speculators, professional athletes, and digitally- or surgically-enhanced celebrities? I certainly didn't ask him to kill anyone and he sure wasn't protecting anything I hold dear. Pat Tillman, to me, seemed like a pre-programmed American male...the spawn of decades of corporate conditioning and State-sponsored patriotism.
When Rich Tillman showed up at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden memorial for his big brother Pat, he "wore a rumpled white T-shirt, no jacket, no tie, no collar," and "asked mourners to hold their spiritual bromides." He later stated: "Pat isn't with God. He's fucking dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's fucking dead.''
Yes, he probably will make enemies. America is self-destructive, and no good deed goes unpunished. Why wouldn't it turn on its own that are correct while vaunting the dubious choices of somebody who was deceived? What mistakes have American's avoided making?
When hasn't America reacted short-sightedly and counter-productively? When have its people risen above peasants in their gullibility, ignorance and superstition in our times? When have the American people or their leaders demonstrated character?
Nobody could have ever predicted that a nation would be so monumentally shortsighted and self-destructive as to tirelessly propagate lies that facilitate their children's extinction for short-term profit.
This nation is too pathological - too immoral, ignorant, arrogant, bellicose - to save itself or to deserve salvation. America is just a mindless corporation with an army, and just one purpose: concentrate wealth by promoting war and consumerism. Unfortunately, nobody can stop it.
Fortunately, it will eventually stop itself. It will implode, and nobody is going to prevent that. One can only hope that that occurs before irreparable harm has occurred. And one hopes not to be in proximity to the devastation that such a correction will create.
There is no sign of political health in this nation anywhere more than a few clusters of activists here and there that together have had no voice or impact. Our political strength formerly came from a common heritage of adherence to liberal, egalitarian principles. That is completely dead and gone now. That national ethos was our immunity from opportunistic infections like the neocons. But we lost it after years of careful and deliberate disuse, and now, we haven't the smarts to defend ourselves from the predators in our midst any more
.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 8:41:01 PM
What did Tillman think of BuSHITica's war in Iraq. It's not hard to find.
Baer, who served with Tillman for more than a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, told one anecdote that took place during the March 2003 invasion as the Rangers moved up through southern Iraq.
"I can see it like a movie screen," Baer said. "We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin and Pat, we weren't in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, 'You know, this war is so f-- illegal.' And we all said, 'Yeah.' That's who he was. He totally was against Bush."
Another soldier in the platoon, who asked not to be identified, said Pat urged him to vote for Bush's Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry.
by
Dale Hill (58 articles, 0 quicklinks, 101 diaries, 347 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 11:17:43 AM
What Americans have to understand is that when they accept personal hardship and worse to serve their country, they are in fact not serving their country at all as clearly evident in the Iraqui debacle. No, rather they are serving as enablers of the dirty deeds of a mentally incompetent Decider. They are in fact totally disserving their country. How terrible for all those who gave their lives for a LIE. It's unforgiveable!
by
Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1097 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 12:16:40 PM
The Army's handling of Tillman's death was, to say the least, egregious. Recall also its bullshit propaganda about Jessica Lynch fighting to the last cartridge before her capture. The people in the Army propaganda department ought to be hamstrung for what they have put Tillman's family through.
Nevertheless, even speaking as an opponent of Bush's war in Iraq, I'm disgusted by Mickey Z's characterization of Tillman's sacrifice. Every fight the U.S. gets into isn't an imperialist war for money or natural resources. It's time the left re-learned the lesson that there are people out there who hate us -- people who would be delighted with the death any American --including Mickey Z and his ilk.
It is not a crime when a man or woman puts on the uniform to fight for their country. Nor should it be a subject for sarcasm or mirth. Blind worship of one's nation, or its armed forces, is foolish. Knee-jerk dismissals of the soldier's code -- duty, obediance, patriotism -- is both foolish and wicked.
The leftist mantra of corporate greed and government malfeasance being responsible for every problem in the world speaks volumes about the left's lack of seriousness. To be color blind when it comes to shades of gray is a trait the left shares with the evangelical right. The two are perfectly paired -- together they form a Janus-like monster that threatens the liberties of us all.
by
Jon Harrison (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 12:30:21 PM
Sorry Jon, I don't know how old you are, but if you truly believe those last few paragraphs you wrote you are truly either under-read, naïve’, or clueless, or perhaps all three.
There have been few justifiable wars in history. The only I know of were WWII and a few ancient wars back in the time of Alexander. The only just wars are those when tribe "A" attacked tribe "B" to steal something and tribe "B" fought back, tribe "B" was justified. We have always had saboteurs. A factory 100 yards from my house, plainly viewable from my porch was bombed by Nazi saboteurs while we watched during WWII. We were not afraid because our president FDR always encouraged courage, unlike the liar, murderer Bush.
Iraq was without an air force or navy attacked by a nation 12 times larger than it and with the most powerful and well equiped military in the world. Over 1,100,000 American's and Iraqi's casualties, most of them innocent citizens are the result, and for what?
I'll tell you for what: There was no justification for attacking Iraq and in 2002, I wrote that it was clear to me that Bush and Blair were lying about WMD's. Blair is a liar who was bought off for a job at Carlyle the Bush family’s fourth generation of businesses profiting from war, because Blair was spending like a Jet Setter on a much lesser salary and had bought "…the house of my dreams…" in an effort to keep up with the Joneses, or the Churchill's, Murdock’s and Hilton’s. (Carlyle has made $15 Billion in profits, from this war in 5 years, 34.7% per year, 12 times what the most successful American businesses make annually. Their sole investments: war goods and oil. Their investors: Oil men, former generals, admirals, presidents, and politicians they have bought off from countries they have helped to rape.)
This is about one family desiring more than anything, Dynastic wealth, and another individual in Britain coveting the same lack of virtue, Avarice.
Bush has used those same tactics over and over, then with a twist of bulling his agenda main stream media helps his causes. The votes we used to support the Democrat's were merely threw away by Pelosi and Reed, and I'm not happy and won't vote Democratic again, unless they restore my faith in the party. Impeach Bush and Company.
by
Fred F (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 13 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 1:02:29 PM
Mickey Z is a little rough on Pat Tillman, whose patriotic mind obviously cleared when he saw those bombs falling on innocent heads in Iraq. But I agree with his basic point that we Americans have to get over this idea of "kicking butt" as being OK in international relations.
I didn't really appreciate Pat Tillman's enlisting to fight the unfortunate Afghan people in supposed revenge for what happened to us in NYC. But I'm one of the reportedly 0 people who marched against and opposed the invasion of Afghanistan, so who cares what I think? When everybody got so fired up to take it out on Afghanistan, I just felt sick. You see, I've felt very sorry for the Afghan people for many years now, maybe because I've been seeing so many Afghan refugees in Iran for such a long time. They've been through a lot, for decades.
Afghanistan has astronomical rates of preventable diseases; war and the increasing number of refugees increased those rates. The last thing they needed or deserved was to be bombed by the USA in retaliation for something supposedly done by Islamic fighters who were originally brought into Afghanistan or supported in Afghanistan by the USA to drive out the Russians and the Russian-supported Afghan leftists.
But then I'm a pacifist. I have this crazy idea that the police shouldn't bomb a building full of people because a murder suspect is reputedly hiding in there somewhere. Oh wait, I forgot--that all depends on your definition of "people."
by
Rosa Schmidt Azadi (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 49 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 2:56:33 PM
Mickey, the truth often hurts but if more people spoke it then these things wouldn't happen. And I don't know if you have made enemies here (as one commenter mentioned) but you can count me as an ally.
by
RCG (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 348 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 3:19:42 PM
Recently my brother-in-law, who should know better, emailed a picture of a new class war ship able to deploy commandos anywhere in the world in record time. Part of the hull made of steel from the Twin Towers. The USS Instant Death, or whatever ...
I email back, "you should know better", and proceed to say I'd rather they kept that steel at the scene of the crime long enough to have done a proper criminal investigation and perhaps used the steel to build a hospital or school, homes, anything that wasn't a FUCKING INSTRUMENT OF DEATH!!!?
anyway ... I'm now off his email list
You're right - fuck it! I'm angry! I'm raging at the dying of the light, just like Dylan professed. What else is there at this point?
If history is any clue I can only assume man has always been this craven and corrupt, , but it still hurts to know that now, with all these means of communication, we still haven't crawled out of the cave.
What arrogance America presumes ... hardly around long enough to even have a culture, dictating to people who can trace their blood-line back three-thousand years ... stunning.
And for what? To control the shrinking world's resources?
Well, yes ... but couldn't we have gone about it a better way as we worked with the rest of the world to find other sources of energy?
Yes again! But guess what kids? WE'VE BLOWN IT!!! We pasted fail-safe two generations ago.
Now, if the Pat Tillman's of this world want to go out and fight for those remaining resources, so be it. Just don't tell me it's for god or country.
And if I can see any kind of justice done before we destroy what's left of a once beautiful planet, so much the better.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1403 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 5:35:30 PM
As an 82 year old vet of WWII, I'm now sorry to say that I find "patriotism" to be a dirty word. The dictionary describes it as "love and support of one's country", which has come to mean, "my country right or wrong". I am even beginning to have a problem with "Nationalism". Both of these words represent, not an end, but a means by which despots coerce the innocent and ignorant, to sacrifice livelyhood and even life itself for the sake of enhancing their wealth and power.
Hal O'Leary
Wheeling, WV
by
Halo (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 29 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 6:14:24 PM
I think you just threw an incomplete pass with this editorial. If you want to make a difference, don't diss someone who thought they were doing the right thing and died as a result, rather support the words of his brother.
Read what Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother, wrote last year...
Pat Tillman (left) and his brother Kevin stand in front of a Chinook helicopter in Saudi Arabia before their tour of duty as Army Rangers in Iraq in 2003.
Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military. Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.
Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,
Kevin Tillman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, and provisions passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, the National Security Agency may have read this email, my blog postings, and may listen to my private phone conversations without warrant, warning, or notice, and certainly without probable cause. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. They may also arrest me without telling me of any charges against me, and hold me secretly and indefinitely in an undisclosed location without notifying my wife or relatives and without charges, and with no access to a lawyer. I/We have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President and voting to remove rubber-stamp Republicans from office.
by
Alessandro Machi (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 10:52:07 PM
I am an X pat living in Scotland (thank god) and I just spent a night with an X Royal Marine who had just been to a reunion of all his old soldier friends. He said we all talked about how pissed off we (were, are) that who we really served was not G.B. but some little oxbridge arsehole. At the age of 55 my friend developed PTSD, he got over it when he realized this. Too soon old too late smart. Thanks for doing your bit to help america extract it's head, like the old Marine said, "Hey, I've come to the conclusion that only love is gonna work." Davy Jones
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 3:17:17 AM
I am an X pat living in Scotland (thank god) and I just spent a night with an X Royal Marine who had just been to a reunion of all his old soldier friends. He said we all talked about how pissed off we (were, are) that who we really served was not G.B. but some little oxbridge arsehole. At the age of 55 my friend developed PTSD, he got over it when he realized this. Too soon old too late smart. Thanks for doing your bit to help america extract it's head, like the old Marine said, "Hey, I've come to the conclusion that only love is gonna work." Davy Jones
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 3:17:30 AM
Mickey Z., Prof Pete Bagnolo, here and I must say, you created a brilliantly written piece. One of the most succinct, strategically and beautifully organized bits of blogging/editorialism I have seen on this Hellish, murderous fiasco. Wish I had written it, but I didn't, so I am glad someone else did.
Well, done and well done to many of those who commented.
I must have missed something, but it seems that Mickey and Kevin are saying the same thing, except that apparently Pat made a mistake and admitted it according to Dale Hill, Pat's Bro Kevin and Rich didn't seem overly happy with thjose whose religious "zeal" applauded the war. Perhaps Mickey should have dissed the "sin" rather than the "sinner" but on the whole he was in agreement with the others.
I was really interested in reading the post that contained the post written by Pat's brother... Actually, I've liked a few of the posts in relation to this piece.
But...
I don't believe in speaking too much ill about the dead, so maybe the author of this article should have come at it from a different angle and not made it so personal about Mr. Tillman. From what I've read, Mr. Tillman deserves our respect (at least) for giving his life in what is a terrible fiasco and illegal war altogether! Perhaps (?) the author is angry that Mr. Tillman is a little more well known than the financially strapped kids who'd signed on with the armed forces in order to get an education before Bushie did all this shit?
Whatever the case may be... I'll steal from Flannery O'Connor and say:
YOU CAN'T BE POORER THAN DEAD
I understand the article writer's point but, isn't it a bit much to personally attack Mr. Tillman, who (in case you forgot) was killed by friendly fire? You think maybe someone mighta accidentally killed him because they didn't like his views?
This article could have served a much better purpose without attacking Mr. Tillman. I have the feeling the writer might have gotten beaten up by a few jocks in his time... Who hasn't? Grow up!
The priest says kind words even at the worst persons funeral.
I'd suspect that Mr. Tillman was quite a decent young man.
So were so many that have died (doing their jobs) for Mr. Bush's 'noble cause'.
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 677 comments)
on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 2:02:26 PM
Like Professor Pete just stated (actually he stated it much earlier, but it just now appeared on my computer)... I pretty much aimed to say what he did about dissing the 'sin' and not the 'sinner'.
None-the-less.
Cheers,
C
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 677 comments)
on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 2:10:33 PM
