Pat Tillman's family: "The administration let him down."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7946201/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Tillman’s parents lash out at Army
Handling of Ranger’s death called a ‘sign of disrespect’
By Josh White
The Washington Post
Updated: 12:16 a.m. ET May 23, 2005


Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.

More than a year after their son was shot several times by his fellow Army Rangers on a craggy hillside near the Pakistani border, Tillman's mother and father said in interviews that they believe the military and the government created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a patriotic response across the country. They say the Army's "lies" about what happened have made them suspicious, and that they are certain they will never get the full story.

‘A sign of disrespect’
"Pat had high ideals about the country; that's why he did what he did," Mary Tillman said in her first lengthy interview since her son's death. "The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting."

Tillman, a popular player for the Arizona Cardinals, gave up stardom in the National Football League after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to join the Army Rangers with his brother. After a tour in Iraq, their unit was sent to Afghanistan in spring 2004, where they were to hunt for the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Shortly after arriving in the mountains to fight, Tillman was killed in a barrage of gunfire from his own men, mistaken for the enemy as he got into position to defend them.




My heart goes out to Tillman's family. I'm truly sorry that people like Ted Rall were so callous to what they went through, and I'm even more sorry that our own "leaders" really couldn't give a damn what goes on in our foreign theaters, so long as their energy industry patrons get what they want.

I don't agree with the shallow, jingoistic catchphrases that motivated Tillman to throw is own life away, but I don''t blame someone who spent their entire life busting his butt to be the best ball player he could for not having as much time to sit around and discuss and contemplate this stuff like the rest of us. He excelled in his field. I wish I could say I excel as much in mine. The fact that a person hasn't availed themselves of alternative media and modes of thought does not make them a "sap".

I hope his parents find peace. At least they can be proud that their son meant well, and dies for a cause he believed in, even if it was different than what the Bush scum had in mind...

and they have a right to be damn mad about it.

What it really boils down to is that Pat Tillman's values were the exact opposite of the people who sent him over there.

I believe it took great courage for his family to speak out.

What did the interview?

way by losing their son, but, I just don't understand how naive people can be that they could not see thru all of *'s bulls**t.

:sarcasm:

After all, the corrupt Bush administration immediately went into jingoistic, rah-rah, USA is Number 1, mode after the September 11 attacks, and cranked up the noise on the American social religion of redemptive violence: If we kill enough people, our national shame and horror will be washed away by their blood. It doesn't matter much whose blood, we'll take Afghanis or Iraqis, random Muslims from around the world. But someone must be made to suffer and die for our nation's loss.

Against that backdrop, Pat Tillman went into the Army Rangers, eager to shed some blood to atone for America's embarrassment (though he was careful to couch this sentiment in the approved liturgical language). He got killed doing it, as will happen. I don't recall seeing or reading anything that said "Professional athletes will be exempt from death." And when his death happened, the military and the administration that sent it out to kill at random to preserve its honor immediately erected a totem to mark a new holy place, and to inveigle more young men and women into the cult of redemptive violence.

I'm not sure where the administration let down anyone who buys into our myth of redemptive violence. Simply believing in it is not proof against that violence being visited on any particular person, and that person's death or dismemberment will be used as further fuel to stoke the flames of more violence and more hatred. It's a seamless cloth, all of a pattern.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/23/tilman.probe.ap/index.html



Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Be it MNA Day 4 or 8 or 15 or .... the day will come when 10s of millions of Americans and others stop their typical activities for 24 hours and urge 10 times that many to join should another MNA Day be required. On that glorious day what we once called "America" will emerge.