Pat Tillman's Brother: 'Somehow Torture, Lying & Killing Is Now Tolerated'

[kpete]

Pat Tillman's Brother, a Fellow GI, Speaks Out on Behalf of His Fallen Bro: "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."
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/

After Pat’s Birthday
Posted on Oct 19, 2006

Courtesy the Tillman Family
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.

By Kevin Tillman

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 get 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 September 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 America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.


much more at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

[goddess40]

1. we should send this to our local papers and ask to have it printed

Great letter - to lose someone is hard enough but to lose someone who wanted to protect their country and to find out the war was only for greed and power instead of a really need is something I couldn't begin to comprehend.

[cmd]

7. Just sent it to our local paper

along with this note:

You will recognize me as one who opposed the Iraq war from its inception. I did not believe then, nor do I believe now, that Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks. I listened to Scott Ritter, a Republican Marine and WMD inspector who stepped forward to state before the war that Saddam had eliminated almost all his WMD and that if he had anything left it was not a threat. I spoke out, stood out and was jeered and called names. That's enough about me. That's not why I'm writing. I am sending you a link to a story by Kevin Tillman, whose brother Pat was killed in Afghanistan. If you haven't read it, I ask you to do it now. The story explains why Pat and Kevin were willing to enlist in the service of our country; and why some of us protested in service of our country.

[midnight]

2. Very brave brothers. They understood the great risks.

My family also understands the risks. Last month we had our thank you cindy sign kicked down, and a Osama stands with Cindy sign taped over it in duct tape. Two weeks later our mail box was knocked down. A flag was thrown on our yard and a flower pot was turned over, and the duct tape that was used to hand Cindy stands with Osama,and the sign was removed from our garage. The following week the police picked my husband at 1:10 in the morning. They gave him 1 breath test in the field. He passed, because he does not drink, and then two more in the office. All negative. They borrowed a drug specialist from adjacent city, and reviewed him for an additional three hours, and then decided to draw blood. This happened on Oct 3,2006. Incidentally one of the questions my husband was asked was his military background. When he said he was an ex-marine the military questions stopped.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Amazingly powerful - a must read. K&R.

.

[wicket]

4. I love this part:

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.

:cry:

[Lisa]

12. that's exactly what caught me too, wicket

The whole piece is amazing, but somehow he cut right to the core with those words (especially that first sentence).

[wicket]

17. The Tillman's truly are a remarkable family

Bless him for speaking out, maybe he'll be able to spare another family the horror his has gone thorugh.

:cry:

[stellanoir]

5. wows

intensely powerful

K & R'd

[RedEarth]

6. Powerful letter..........

[goddess40]

8. I can't open the link - it must be getting a lot of attention

I'll try later as I haven't sent it too my paper yet - I can only e-mail from one of my computers and it was being used by another family member when I posted earlier.

[goddess40]

9. both local papers want to know who this Tillman guy is

I sent a copy of the letter with a link to the papers in town and both e-mailed me back saying they don't know who this guy is and he would have to submit the letter himself

[Lars39]

11. Here's an article from Sports Illustrated that explains who he was:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/04/23/tillman.killed/

[goddess40]

13. Thanks nt

[Ksec]

10. Excellent.

This should be reposted in every newspaper across the country.

[Cha]

14. I wish every American could read

their story but the corporate media would never take the chance on this truth.

[blondeatlast]

15. Pat and Kevin fought for the America I believe in, not the

jingoistic, depraved, corrupt administration we have now.

God bless and keep you, Kevin, and thank you for the wisdom and sacrifice on so many levels.

I will do all I can to spread your message far and wide.

[Quixote1818]

16. Recomended!!! Awesome Tillman! nt