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Pat Tillman
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Pat Tillman |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186840,00.html Personally I don’t think he was “fragged”. War is full of dumb accidents. Yet apart from that how do you explain Pat Tillman? He had it all and yet he consciously chose to put himself in harm’s way, knowing he could, as he did, pay the ultimate price. Bravado, stupidity, or something else? |
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Mistletoe Angel 
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
The whole story is just very heartbreaking to me. Pat Tillman was just a good citizen who only wanted to serve his country, and asked for nothing more. It was his choice, his decision based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, who even sacrificed an Arizona Cardinals contract to serve. Regardless of my negative opinions of this war, it doesn't affect whatsoever my utmost respect for all our young men and women in uniform, where his service was most honorable and admirale, and I have the utmost respect for his character. Each individual life like Tillman's is most valuable, and no matter what the consequence, I believe the family of each son and daughter serving and is the victim of a unfortunate loss or accident deserves the truth of what happened. Doing otherwise makes it feel as though others missions and jobs matter more than these individuals who are doing all the hard work down there, and that's just sad in my opinion. I was saddened when Rene Gonzalez, a University of Massachusetts graduate student said he got what he deserved by being a "macho man". I was saddened when that radical left-wing cartoonist nut Ted Rall depicted Tillman as a misled idiot who enlisted to kill Arabs. I was saddened that Fox News pundits wrapped him up in the same artificial faux patriotism they did on Jessica in promoting him as a war cheerleader of sorts. Tillman didn't deserve any of that media treatment. He deserves our honor in its pure, non-political and unconditional form. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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vlraynes Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-25
Posts 8229Somewhere... out there... |
quote:
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
I agree with Vicky. How many 'celebrities' are willing to fight for their country? You should research how many Hollywood stars fought in World War II. It's an amazing story. And why shouldn't they? They reap the benefits of our country's greatness, why not protect it? But today? Pat Tillman is an oddity. Go figure. |
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Not A Poet Member Elite
since 1999-11-03
Posts 3885Oklahoma, USA |
Of course, Pat Tillman was not a Hollywood star either. You are certainly right about WWII though. But then that saddly was "another time" and most of them are gone now along with most of our parents who also did the same. |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
ABC News: March 31, 2007 Over this past week, the saga has gotten far more unsettling, with the latest update indicating that weeks after his death, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal wrote in a April 29, 2004 memo to General John Abizaid the following, trying to warn the president that Tillman likely had died of friendly fire: * "I felt that it was essential that you received this information as soon as we detected it in order to preclude any unknowing statements by our country's leaders which might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Cpl. Tillman's death become public," * As I already expressed in the thread "Who Is Afraid Of The Big, Bad Fox?", multiple versions of this story have continually surfaced from the very beginning, the first of which being that Tillman was killed in an ambush by hostile forces in Afghanistan. After Tillman's memorial service at the end of May 2004, after this professional football star's memory was used as psuedo-patriotic jujitsu intended to drive up recruitment and even romanticize the war in Iraq, the Army revealed a second version of the story; that Tillman had not been killed by the Taliban, but instead by friendly fire. One year later, version three of the story came out, when the Army admitted it was friendly fire from virtually the day he died. And on Monday, unfortunately yet another version, version four, was revealed; where nine officers, four generals among them, knew, including at least one who attended Tillman‘s memorial service, but decided to say nothing to the family about the truth while he was there. April 22nd will be three years since his passing away in Afghanistan, and even now his parents say they are STILL not getting the truth from U.S military officials, why testimony is restricted to those in that group that accidentally killed her son, why one day U.S military officials told Tillman's parents his diary had been lost but then later on says "Ohhhhhhh wait, thhaaaaatttt diary, rrrigghhtttt, the one that was burned with his clothes after that tragic ordeal!" I simply don't get it. What really boggles my mind is, if there was indeed a cover-up, WHY did they even bother with it, why was it necessary to have undertaken it? Tillman was ALREADY a hero from the very beginning, simply by genuinely serving our country and volunteering truly is patriotism in its purest and most unadulterated form, and ended up giving as much as anyone ever could. That just because he happened to have died from friendly fire, how does that subtract from ANYTHING he did whatsoever? Did they believe the fact he opposed the war in Iraq somehow diminished what he did and who he was? Or that he read Noam Chomsky? Or that he played for a NFL team that hasn't had a winning season since 1998? This goes for foreign policy critics as well, who also have exploited his death for their own ends. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Rene Gonzalez and Ted Rall were just two individuals who did just that, the former claiming he got what he deserved for being a "macho man", and the latter claiming Tillman was little more than a misled idiot who enlisted just to kill Arabs. Pat Tillman didn't deserve that Silver Star by that artificial patriotic window dressing that was made up, nor by courageously expressing his opinions and challenging the foreign policy status quo. Tillman deserved that Silver Star simply because he was Pat Tillman, selflessly serving boldly and honorably for his country. Tillman forever deserves our honor and sincerest respect, and his family may never understand why some at the Pentagon ever even bothered to re-write his already compelling, pure, heroic life story. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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Aurelian Member
since 2007-03-20
Posts 109TX, USA |
Someone (I think maybe Fussel) once said that anytime you get a bunch of scared kids with deadly weapons, accidents are bound to happen. It's just a sad fact of war. Look at the rates of friendly fire deaths in WWII and other wars - pretty shocking. |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
quote: Yeah, I've heard that quote before, but don't remember who said it. There are a bunch of tragic accidents in any war, which being a pragmatist pacifist I believe can be avoided if the world exercises their diplomatic options more frequently, but in the end it's our young men and women who are always sent to fight over all other demographics, and many of them are barely even young adults yet beaming with determination and bravery in its highest form. I absolutely believe Pat Tillman has inspired and influenced other young men and women over, and his example can purely motivate others in harm's way. I just pray they don't fall victim to Pentagon politics like Tillman did. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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