New Look at N.F.L. Star's War Death (Tillman)

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/national/15tillman.html

PHOENIX, April 14 (AP) - The military has completed a second investigation into the death of Pat Tillman, the pro football star turned Army Ranger, in Afghanistan last year, seeking to address concerns that it had held back information. But the findings will not be made public.

The Army ordered the new investigation in mid-November based on questions from Corporal Tillman's family.

The family got a briefing on the inquiry "a couple of weeks ago," said Lt. Col. Hans Bush of the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. He said there had been "a degree of satisfaction expressed by the family."

Patrick Tillman Sr., when asked by The Arizona Republic whether the family was satisfied, responded: "No. And I don't want to talk about it."

...more...

hopefully, the truth will have a way of slipping out

[medeak]

1. wasn't it friendly fire? n/t

[UpInArms]

2. yes, but the details

have not been made thoroughly public.

[Richard Steele]

3. THIS SAYS IT ALL:

The NEW investigation is:
"...seeking to address concerns that it had held back information. But the findings will not be made public."

Just...Fucking...Unbelievable.

At least Hitler PRETENDED to care for the first couple years!

[tabasco]

4. I don't understand what the problem is here.

It sounds like the family is upset that it was a fratricide incident. Unfortunately, fratricide (military term for friendly fire casualties) is a sad occurence in every war.

The military admitted it was fratricide.

The family is pissed and wants another investigation.

Will they feel better if they find out a Taliban killed their son?

I don't get it.

[wtmusic]

5. Sounds like the military held back information

about WHY there son was killed. Wouldn't you want to know?

[daleo]

6. They should just make the findings public.

At this point, it is of interest to the whole world, since Tillman was used as a propaganda figure. Keeping the findings from the public just opens up possibilities for speculation. Not that those would be completely eliminated.

[MADem]

7. With no immediate knowledge of this incident

...but having had to deal with military deaths under not-ordinary circumstances, as well as family members in stages from disbelief, to grief, to anger, my experience has been that when the family bitches, they think there is a cover-up going on. If the military says a kid committed suicide, they see murder covered up. If a kid falls overboard and drowns, they want to know if he was pushed.

If a guy gets shot by friendly fire, they may suspect a battle buddy wasn't so buddy-buddy. It could well be they think it may not have been an accident....

[rooboy]

11. The family probably will feel better...

if they find out a Taliban killed their son. One of my friends died in a car crash several years ago, and his mother was very anxious to have the coroner find that he wasn't at fault. I think having a positive myth to remember their son by is important to them.

[efhmc]

8. Please, just tell me why this death is so very much more important

than anyone else's? Because he could play with a piece of pigskin (or whatever a football is made up of now)?

[fooj]

9. I think it is the way his death was USED...

that's what gets me. They propagandized the entire tragedy. His is just another example of this deceptive and manipulative administration playing their dangerous and lethal games with our brothers and sisters. It is unacceptable behavior. Pure and Simple.

Peace!

[Voltaire99]

10. Nicely put. And...

I suspect that the propaganda machine doesn't want to weaken Tillman's value as a "hero," the better to wave it around for recruitment.

There's the danger that if Tillman's death is shown to be pointless and banal or otherwise reflects badly on HQ, support for the war could be damaged, too.

Reality isn't driving US support for the occupation. Symbolism is. And for many red state gullibles, Tillman is one of those symbols.

[saigon68]

12. Tillman's death WAS pointless and banal

And so are all the Deaths in the BUSH CRIMINALS Oily War.

[0007]

13. Oops! How inconvenient!

I realize that I am being naïve. The political class always tends to use the lives of others for political gain. It seems to be part of their "job specs." Men like Tillman are an obvious choice for stardom. Men like Mejia must be silenced.

For his sacrifice, Tillman received posthumous citations for bravery in action and the Arizona Cardinals retired the number on his football jersey. Some time later the American public found out that there were no Taliban present when Tillman was killed. An Army investigation found that he was killed by "friendly fire." (3) In other words, he was shot by his own guys.

(Swans - April 11, 2005) Staff Sergeant Camillo Mejia got tired of all the killing. He was saddened by the deaths within his own squad as he was of the innocent Iraqi citizens killed in what he saw as an illegal war.

The war not only made him sad and tired, it made him sick! Sick of the lies. Sick of the murders. Sick of the war crimes. Sick of seeing his men killed and dismembered. Sick of a war that was based on lies. Sick of the orders that asked him to do unconscionable things.

So, Sergeant Camillo Mejia refused the orders that would send him back to Iraq. He was arrested, court-martialed and sent to prison. His principled stand meant more to him than walking around as a moral cipher, following the winds of convenience supported by state propaganda.

more..

http://www.swans.com/library/art11/rmac32.html