Happy Birthday, Pat Tillman

[Contessa_Sharra]

Happy Birthday, Pat Tillman

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091106_happy_birthday_pat_tillman/

Posted on Nov 6, 2009

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]By Kevin Tillman[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Editor’s note: Pat Tillman would have been 33 years old today. We at Truthdig wish to commemorate his life by republishing an article by his brother, Kevin Tillman. Tillman’s story speaks volumes not just about those we have lost, but about a history of lies, deceits and cover-ups that have helped to perpetuate war and kill thousands of U.S., coalition, Iraqi and Afghan people. As we await a decision by President Barack Obama, being pressed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, on whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan, we can remind ourselves of the life that Pat Tillman led and let it guide us to better understand both the conflict in Afghanistan and its consequences. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]

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[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Courtesy of the Tillman Family[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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. [/FONT]​

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Kevin Tillman joined the Army with Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. The government deceived his family—and the nation—about the circumstances of his death for five weeks. McChrystal, who led the Joint Special Operations Command, of which Pat was a member, was central to the top-level military deceit in Tillman’s death through his fast-tracking of a fraudulent Silver Star medal recommendation and later warning in a high-priority memo of possible “public embarrassment if the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death become public.” Not when, but “if.” [/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, wrote a powerful, must-read document on the occasion of Pat’s birthday anniversary in 2006.[/FONT]


[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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 got out. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Much has happened since we handed over our voice:[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes. [/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow torture is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow lying is tolerated. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow this is tolerated.[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Somehow nobody is accountable for this. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]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. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday. [/FONT]

[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, times new roman, times, serif]Kevin Tillman[/FONT]​

 

[rdean]

Pat Tillman, like many other Americans joined the Military to go get Bin Laden. Pat Tillman is dead. Where is Bin Laden?

 

[dilloduck]

Pat Tillman, like many other Americans joined the Military to go get Bin Laden. Pat Tillman is dead. Where is Bin Laden?

Dead too or hiding so well Obama can't find him either.

 

[rightwinger]

RIP Pat..

You are an inspiration to us all

 

[bodecea]

Ironic how the Bush Administration wanted to use Tillman's death as a PR coup and it ended up being one of their worse PR nightmares.