Time: Mary Tillman "They Were Lying’. Why she feels Americans should be outraged.

[maddezmom]

WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
‘They Were Lying’
Mary Tillman spent years piecing together the details of the friendly-fire death of her son, former NFL star Pat Tillman. Why she feels Americans should be outraged.

By Karen Breslau | Newsweek Web Exclusive
May 5, 2008 | Updated: 9:27 a.m. ET May 5, 2008

When Army Corporal Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, the story of the former NFL star who walked away from his pro career to sacrifice his life for his country became a legend. Tillman, who played for the Arizona Cardinals, and his younger brother Kevin, a minor league baseball player, enlisted in the Army after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and joined the elite Rangers. The Tillman brothers were serving in the same platoon in Afghanistan the day Pat was killed during what was reported to be an ambush near the Afghan-Pakistan border. At first, the Army reported that Tillman, the highest profile soldier to die in the war, was killed while leading the charge against enemy fighters. He was posthumously awarded him the Silver Star, one of the nation's highest combat awards. Within weeks though, the Army reported that Tillman had in fact been killed by friendly fire, the result of a disastrous decision to split his unit into two convoys so that one could tow a disabled Humvee through a treacherous canyon road before dark and the other could proceed to its mission in a village suspected to harbor Taliban fighters. The convoys became separated and one was ambushed, causing soldiers to start firing. Tillman was shot through the head by fellow rangers as he tried to approach their position to help.

Since his death, Tillman's family in San Jose, Calif. led by his mother Mary and his brother Kevin, accuse the Pentagon of covering up the facts after spending years piecing together the events that led to Tillman's death and the delay in reporting the friendly fire. A series of Army investigations revealed that top officers, including a three-star general, misled Tillman's family and the public about the circumstances of Tillman's killing. During a congressional hearing last August, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied a cover-up, but said that he felt "terrible" that accurate reporting about Tillman's death "was handled in a way that was unsatisfactory, and that caused a great deal of heartache for the Tillman family."

This week, Mary Tillman publishes her story, "Boots on the Ground By Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman." She spoke to NEWSWEEK's Karen Breslau in San Francisco. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What remains the biggest unanswered questions for you in Pat's death?

more:http://www.newsweek.com/id/135565

[But....]

1. Never forget.

:patriot:

[mod mom]

2. "After Pat's Birthday" by Kevin Tillman (Pat's brother)

After Pat’s Birthday

By Kevin Tillman

Originally posted on 10/19/06

Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.



It is Pat’s birthday on Nov. 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.

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 Sept. 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 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 5-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 5-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


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070527_tillman_and_kovic_on_war_and_sacrifice/

[classof56]

4. Powerful stuff--thanks for posting!

I just printed this off. Kevin nails it--somehow the same incompetent, narcissitic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country, and incredibly they have never and apparently never will be held accountable. The tragedy is compounded every day. I just found out that the grandson of a family member was back home after two tours in Iraq and shot himself. I am unable to express my anger and despair for all the dead and for our country. Words are simply failing me.

Tired Old Cynic

[DrDan]

3. she was absolutely right when she stated the administration and

the pentagon needed a hero - and they tried to make Tillman one.

They also tried with that girl from West Virginia - and she wanted no part of it.

They (junior and the pentagon) learned their lesson well from the sports coverage on TV. For the past 2 decades, the MSM has tried to find a hero in all big events - to latch on to as many viewers as possible. A hero that overcame great odds to become world-class - they love those stories. The precoverage of any big event spent a significant amount of time developing a hero.

Didn't work in either of these two cases - which makes each of them a hero to me.

[applegrove]

5. More neocon myth-making. Glad she is speaking out.