In Defense of Pat Tillman (Truthdig)

In Defense of Pat Tillman

Posted on Mar 26, 2007
By Stan Goff

Mickey Z has just written a piece reacting to the phony-baloney “leak” from the Department of Defense that people—including officers—will be “punished” for the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death at the hands of fellow Rangers in 2004. But Mickey Z’s article didn’t delve into the question of governmental malfeasance. It attacked Pat Tillman.

“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,” said Mickey Z.

Having had substantial contact with Pat Tillman’s family, and having read the 2,000-plus pages of investigation documents, I can say without any reservation that Mickey Z’s article displays not one shred of understanding of “how and why Pat Tillman ended up in position to be killed by his fellow soldiers.” Instead, he quotes other people who made fairly predictable comments about Pat after he was killed, then uses the jingoism of some of those statements as a foil to show how much more enlightened Mickey Z is than the rest of the world. The problem with this nasty bit of sanctimony, from my perspective, is that—just like the Army that tried to erase the real Pat Tillman and substitute an iconic caricature—Mickey Z erases the real Pat Tillman to paint an anti-iconic caricature.

As both a friend of the family and a former soldier myself and having worked with many former soldiers who came to oppose the war, I am offended by this devaluation of all who don’t—like Mickey Z, apparently—emerge from the womb with a full understanding of U.S. history and imperialism. The fact is, the soldiers who have come to oppose this war have done more to discredit the war in the eyes of the American public than all the textual revolutionaries of cyberspace put together. Pat Tillman had come to oppose the Iraq war by the time of his death. His family opposes both fronts of the war now. That includes his brother Kevin, who was assigned to the same Ranger unit with Pat at the time of Pat’s death.

Pat Tillman was gifted in a way that precluded his exposure to the narratives of the left (as we are all insulated from those narratives); and he went to war. But while he was in Iraq, he concluded from his own experience, “This war is so fucking illegal.” Perhaps Mickey Z was unaware of this. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070326_defending_pat_tillman/

I read it earlier today. I can't even imagine how disgusted Stan must have been, knowing the background, reading that mickey z piece. :(