Heavy shit... spread it.
"Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is
tolerated"
Pat Tillman's Brother Breaks his Silence
By Dave Zirin
When Pat Tillman, former NFL player and Army Ranger,
died in Afghanistan in 2004, it unleashed a drama that
moved from tragedy to obscenity to mystery.
First there was Pat's death. Because Tillman wasn't
the kind of anonymous fallen soldier the Bush
administration could blithely ignore, we all bore
witness to the tears of his family - including his
brother, best friend, and fellow Army Ranger, Kevin.
Pat's death - like every last death that’s resulted
from this horrific Middle Eastern escapade - was
tragedy. Then came obscenity: it came out after Pat's
funeral, that he had died at the hands of his own
troops in a case of "friendly fire". This bit of
information was suppressed from everyone outside the
Pentagon and Oval Office even from Pat's family. It
was even kept from Kevin, serving in Pat's battalion.
Eulogists like John McCain - knowingly or unknowingly
- told lies over Pat Tillman's body about death in
combat. Bush gave a speech about Tillman over the
jumbotron at football stadiums. He was given the
Silver Star - a merit for combat, not friendly fire.
From the perspective of this administration, Pat died
for the noble cause of PR.
Finally from obscenity sprung mystery. For Pat's
parents Mary and Pat, Sr. there were unanswered
questions. Why were they fed lies? Why were Pat's
clothes and equipment burned at the scene? Why wasn’t
Kevin told the truth at the scene? What happened to
Pat's journal, that he had kept with him for years? To
pressure army investigators, Mary and Pat, Sr. went
public about Pat's true feelings about the war in Iraq
(he thought it was illegal) and his growing
questioning about the Bush "war on terror." Now Pat's
brother Kevin has broken his silence as well. Kevin
has written a brilliant piece that should be
distributed in front of every army recruitment center
and sent to every person who wears the uniform. I
don't agree with every word, but that's hardly the
point: Kevin, like Pat, represents a growing surge in
this country against the machinery death and the lies
that grease its wheels. We have paid dearly for those
lies. It's time to bring the troops home now.
You can email me back at [email protected]
After Pat's Birthday
By Kevin Tillman
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
