There are many unanswered questions about the death of Bay Area native and unabashed atheist Pat Tillman. Tillman famously abandoned a promising pro football career in 2002 to enlist in the US Army to help fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2004, he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Initial reports indicated he was killed by a hostile ambush. Subsequent reports tell a more complex scenario: he was killed by "friendly fire" and even that may not have been accidental. The Associated Press obtained military records through the Freedom of Information Act revealing that "Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime."Tillman was well-read and held views which were critical of the Iraq war and did not support President Bush's re-election. He had arranged a meeting with political dissident Noam Chomsky, to take place after his return from Afghanistan.
Could Tillman's death be a calculated murder, covered up by the highest levels? The US military is always conformist and increasingly and dangerously evangelical; handling their "poster boy" who was deviating sharply from the party line was certainly an agenda item for top brass.
6 comments:
I think a greater fear for so-called religious people is that this God they so fervently believe in is not an intervening God, that he cannot or will not intercede via prayer to deflect evil or bring good fortune. Believing in intercessory prayer allows people to cop out ("God willing"; "Allah willing") and take the path of least resistance, whether that be no action at all or a complete submission to perceived superiors (e.g., a suicide bomber to his mentor). Atheism doesn't have all the answers, either. We're all existential beings adrift in the universe, asking, simply, what the hell does it all mean?
I have been following this story from day one and the story never quite added up... something deeper and more conscious, orchestrated and manipulative would most definitely not surprise me though this tragedy saddens me to no end. He was beautiful in more ways than one...
Nice post amigo mio! Written like a true San Franciscan indeed! :-)
"The doctors _ whose names were blacked out _ said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away." [Wash Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602025.html ]
Three bullet holes in the forehead fired from about 10 yards and the jury is still out?
Must be that liberal bias in the media I've been hearing about all these years.
What bugged me was statements made by the chaplain who related statements from Tillman's fellow soldier, who survived the friendly-fire incident. According to the soldier himself, Tillman urged him to calm down, remain safe, and to try and think of a way out of the situation. According to the chaplain, the soldier had told him that Tillman called him a "sniveling idiot" and discouraged him from praying. The anti-religious slurs don't seem in character for a guy who is being shot at and trying to figure out how to survive; from what we in the public know of Tillman's personality, they don't ring true, either. It seems to me that the chaplain colored his testimony to paint an atheist as an intolerant and unappealing character when he is so obviously a heroic figure.
Maybe tillmen was killed by a friend of Paul Cortez?
There are no "unanswered questions" in the Tillman case. What happened is 100% crystal clear to anyone who has ever served in the Army or Marine Corps. Battle Drill 1a, Squad Attack, is an extremely dangerous exercise. It involves one fire team suppressing the enemy with a high volume of fire while the other fire team attacks from a flank. Before sweeping through the objective, the assault team must signal the support team to shift or lift fire. If this signal is not received or properly obeyed, the support team can easily target its own men on the assault team. The communication problem is compounded by darkness, noise, fog, confusion, terrain, fear, or mistakes. In other words, it's EASY to kill your own people.
After he was killed, I'm sure there was a lot of emotion and fear. Imagine if YOU had shot one of your own men. Would you immediately admit it? What if you weren't 100% sure? Isn't it common to enter denial?
Then there's the so-called "cover up." What is the team going to report even if they know the truth? That they f'ed up...and that their buddy wasn't a "hero" but rather a victim of incompetence?
What about the officers? There weren't any there! All their information was second-hand and obscure.
Given the confusion of combat and a natural understanding of human nature, it's ENTIRELY plausible (and in fact most probable) that his death was an accident and the so-called "cover-up" was the result of an individual's self-protection, and an attempt to protect the dignity of Tillman's sacrifice.
For those of you who think this is some conspiracy right up to the oval office, you are simply ignorant and MENTALLY ILL. How could Bush or Rumsfeld or anyone that high in the ranks know exactly what went on and actually believe they could keep it all a secret.
Why were his parents misinformed? Because initially the officers who reported the death were LIED TO by the soldiers on the ground (or perhaps they were in denial). Why did the story change so much? Because information takes TIME to come out.
Two maxims prevail:
"Never attribute to conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by incompetence."
"The only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead."
So just STFU about Tillman. If you're still talking about his death, you really need therapy...badly.
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