Reply #19: Additionally [View All]

[FredScuttle]

Here's the Wikipedia page on Pat Tillman...you may find it useful to read before you make Rall's mistake of cavalierly commenting on this man's life and motivations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman

The key excerpt: Although Tillman fought and died in service to his country, he was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq.

Also:

In the September 25, 2005, San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, a front page story revealed Tillman's views were more complex than the hard-charging warrior portrayed by the mainstream media. Reporter Robert Collier wrote Tillman was:

...a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author. In the article, fellow soldier, Spc. Russell Baer, related conversations with Tillman about the war.

“We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin and Pat, we weren’t in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, ‘You know, this war is so f— illegal.’ And we all said, ‘Yeah.’ That’s who he was. He totally was against Bush.”
Also according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Tillman joined the Army specifically to fight Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but was sent to participate in the invasion of Iraq against his wishes. According to a colleague, at one point he called the invasion, "so fucking illegal."

Tillman had arranged to meet Noam Chomsky, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. The Chronicle reported that Chomsky was one of Tillman's favorite authors.

Tillman planned to vote for John Kerry in the 2004 US Presidential election, and encouraged others in his unit to do so as well.

(link to San Francisco Chronicle article on Pat Tillman: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/0... )


I'm glad to read on this page that Rall expressed remorse for jumping to conclusions about Tillman's motivations, but until I see an actual apology from Rall to the Tillman family, I will continue to regard him as a piece of shit.