Posted on 10/20/2006 4:15:44 PM PDT by Dane
editorial | posted October 20, 2006 (web only) Pat Tillman's Legacy
Kevin Tillman
Former Major League Baseball player 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. This article originally appeared on Truthdig. It is Pat Tillman's birthday 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 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 five-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 five-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 who 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.
I don't give this guy a pass because of his service or his brother, just as I don't give Sheehan a pass because of her son.
I have a soft spot for vets. I never served (although I tried).
PAT TILLMAN IS AN AMERICAN HERO
Plus, WAS SO HOT
It is a crying shame he is dead.
He was shot by frinedly fire & it was covered up.
His family was lied to about the death.
I can't blame Kevin for speaking out to what he believes to be truth.
Freedom of Speech
He has well earned his right to say whatever the hell he wants...and if you Dane don't like it...go write your own article....better yet....go tell Kevin yourself.
I'd bet you would be cursing those same kids if they had written letters opposing the war.
So you are saying it is the truth of what Kevim Tillman and noam chomsky portray,that America is the force of evil in this world.
Yuh know much less "hot" people have given up their lives for America and don't see it as a disgrace or try to spit on their honor as Kevin Tillman seems to be doing.
I find it hard to believe the Tillman brothers were big fans of Chomsky. If that's true, then why would they join the Army?
They are fans of Chomsky, as is his father. I believe that Pat Tillman started reading chomsky while in the army.
But like I said it is not me who is degrading the sacrifice of the soldiers, it is Kevin Tillman, who has bought into the intellectual poison of uber hate America, noam chomsky.
I think NATO is in Afghanistan more to put pressure on Iran than to destroy Al Qaeda's base of operations. We could have crushed AQ rather well just with air power, but we need to hold the key air bases in Afghanistan in case we have to raid Iran and take out their nuclear weapons facilities. The dumb left-wing news media has completely ignored this reason for invading Afghanistan (and Iraq), or maybe most of the media hasn't figured this out yet. Jose Maria Aznar of Spain had a great statement about the invasion of Afghanistan. He said, "This was not an act of vengance. This was a strategic objective."
You're not too bright, are you? Mocking kindertgartners, no less. If you can't analyse a simple sentence, why are you worth listening to?
Are you talking about me or Kevin Tillman.
I am not the one who is mocking the Kindergarteners or basically spitting on the graves of the men who are fighting the terrorists, that would be Kevin Tillman.
I am not the one who is mocking the Kindergarteners. Great. Who said you were? You accuse Tillman of that, without evidence.
Right here is the evidence.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-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 five-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.
Good lord man, what part of the mocking of kindergarteners don't you understand.(i.e "support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas").
what part of the mocking of kindergarteners don't you understand.None of it. The next sentence shows what Tillman believes is inadequate about the 3 things he lists; in this case, a soldier is 'supported' by receiving a picture (note: the child's sincere feelings are not mocked or even mentioned) from a kid he's hardly seen due to serving 3 or 4 consecutive tours. Tillman clearly believes troops with kids would be better supported if troop levels and deployment were such that they spent more valuable time with them - I find it easy to believe Tillman believes this due to first-hand testimony from his buddies.
Uh Tillman is mocking that support of the kindergartener. It's obvious to anyone who can read.
Then why didn't Tillman mention his buddies in this rant. Seems he is more pissed off at the kindergartener who "scribbles with crayons" to show support of his "buddies".
Seems he is more pissed off at the kindergartener who "scribbles with crayons" to show support of his "buddies".Any reasonable reading of that passage does not lead one to think Tillman is pissed off with children, rather than the people who made the decisions that ensured they spent the precious first years of their life interacting with their dads via drawings.
Excuse me what are you reading? Here's the paragraph again.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-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 five-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
It's obvious that kindergarteners support of the troops is a subject of Mr. Tillman's poisonous pen. He is mocking their support of the troops and of him.
Do you have comment about Mr. Tillman's piece or jus ad hominems against me.
Mr. Tillman is entitled to his opinion as am I, and IMO, Mr. Tillman has let his bitterness overwhelm him and his bitterness becomes insulting to the troops fighting bravely against the terrorists and those supporting our tropps, while Mr. Tillman let's off the hook, the real enemy, the people who wish to kill you and me, the islamofascists.
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