Murdered by ''friendly fire'', but his story won't be forgotten

"It is Pat Tillman's birthday

While searching the internet for interesting news on the war in Iraq I came around an article which really moved me and simultaneously made me extremely angry.

This story is about Pat Tillman, a serviceman killed by so called friendly fire for expressing his opinion against the War on Terror and then burned in an attempt to hide this brutal crime.

His brother, also an Afghanistan war veteran made a political statement pretty much summing up how most of us feel about this War on Terror.

I'd like to request the mods to make an exception and allow me to post at least his brother's statement in its entireness. Nevertheless, I've tried to cut out some paragraphs.

A story about a man that gave his life to defend our democracy, but for what democracy are those heroes sacrificing their lives?


May his soul rest in peace

Kevin Tillman's message ought not be circulated by a campaign committee or a political party. It should be shared, citizen to citizen, first on the Internet, but then in phone calls to family members and old friends, in conversations over coffee and along the sideline at the soccer field, in leaflets slipped under the doors of neighbors and handed to one another after church.

Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, and received war hero honors at a memorial service where U.S. Sen. John McCain spoke. Supporters of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, endeavors that by the time of Tillman's death were growing increasingly controversial, sought to spin the football star's sacrifice as evidence of the nobility of the Bush administration's military

After Sept. 11, 2001, Pat and Kevin Tillman signed up for the U.S. Army. It was an especially dramatic sacrifice for Pat, a player with the Arizona Cardinals football team who turned down a $3.6 million contract to play the next three years with the Cardinals in order to join the Army Rangers in Iraq and then Afghanistan.

The propaganda push eventually fell apart, however, when it was learned that the Pentagon had delayed revealing to Tillman's family the circumstances of his death - he was shot three times in the head by so-called "friendly fire," and U.S. troops then burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent coverup attempt - until after the memorial service, with all its patriotic flourishes and media attention, was finished.

Later still, it was revealed that Pat Tillman had during the course of his service become an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq and was in the months before his death urging fellow soldiers not to vote for President Bush's re-election.

The Capital Times


[edit on 24-10-2006 by Mdv2]

Mod edit: please review this link--Posting work written by others.


[edit on 26-10-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Great Post! Wow I would be very upset if that happened to my cusin but thank god he's home for now. It makes me think and hope that it didn't happen to any other soldiers without it coming out

After reading this I am also saddened and angered. Incidents like this only manage to keep the hatred of the US government alive...and I think that is JUSTIFIED.

The citizens of all the coalition forces MUST NOT be allowed to forget Pat Tillman and his sacrifice, a sacrifice that he should never have been FORCED to make.


I sincerely hope that the US government and the sycophants (John Howard PM Australia) that follow their lead, come to their senses soon and bring all our troops home.


Has anyone been charged over is death and the cover up? I expect NOT

Mdv2, I thankyou for this post...I had never heard of Pat Tillman before but I will
remember him on November 6th.


In Pace
resi

I'm glad Kevin spoke out on these issues. It may give others a voice.

resistancia, and others who haven't heard about this, there is a decent thread here on the circumstances surrounding the death of Pat Tillman.

[edit on 24-10-2006 by Icarus Rising]

thankyou Icarus


In Pace
resi

Mod Note: One Line and Short Posts – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 24-10-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by resistancia


...a sacrifice that he should never have been FORCED to make.

I realise I was incorrect by stating the above. I was unaware that Pat Tillman VOLUNTEERED to go to war, and decided to stay when offered the opportunity to go home. I apologise on that point.


I have checked out the threads and other links and still think this incident is despicable and methinks I smell something rotten.


In Pace
resi

ahem.

his BODY ARMOR was burned.
not his BODY..BODY ARMOR

I know, I know, still bad...but jeez..it does change the emotional impact of the HEADLINE!

Kevin Tillman is entitled to his opinion, but there is nothing in the article to justify your title, "Murdered by ''friendly fire'', his body burned, but his story won't be forgotten."

That title is worse than irresponsible.

Furthermore, Tillman's statement that "Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started" is false insofar as American involvement in Vietnam was not an illegal invasion, but Tillman can be forgiven because he just knows the lies that the left have repeated so many times that the truth has been obliterated.

The US became involved in Vietnam as a result of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and we were not alone, although we provided the most support for South Vietnam. Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea were among the countries involved in the war to prevent the communist takeover of South Vietnam.

But, what good is the truth to Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper. It's all just opinion, anyway.

Maybe Pat Tillman would want his sacrifice to become tainted by a leftist agenda, but that's a lousy legacy for someone who distinguished himself under fire, even it that fire originated from friendly forces.

That is the meaning of friendly fire, you know, and only those who have never been under fire have a problem understanding the term and why it is not an oxymoron as so many perceive.

My heart goes out to the Tillman family, but to me he will always be the perfect model of a patriot. If he was going to be so easily swayed from his commitment maybe he should have stayed in the NFL, but as it is he gave his life for a cause larger than himself and ultimately that truth will stand long after the election is over and the pundits have moved on to something more important to them than one grunt's death in the most God-forsaken country in the world.

Maybe his family would rather he be remembered as just a casualty of the fog of war with the insinuation of murder tainting that memory, but I'd rather remember Tillman as the guy who gave up America's idea of a hero for the distinction of being a real hero.


[edit on 2006/10/24 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Kevin Tillman is entitled to his opinion, but there is nothing in the article to justify your title, "Murdered by ''friendly fire'', his body burned, but his story won't be forgotten."

That title is worse than irresponsible.

My apologies. I agree, and will ask a mod to edit the title as I made a mistake by saying 'his body burned', which I didn't wrote intentionally.