Pat Tillman’s Bro Speaks Up

Ken AshfordIraq, War on Terrorism/Torture1 Comment

Pat Tillman was a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals.  Moved by 9/11, he volunteered for military duty and was deployed to Iraq.

He was a darling of the right wing, who reported his death in Iraq with much sadness.  Here’s Hindrocket at Powerline, April 23, 2004:

The news brought tears to my eyes, as to many others. Already, some are asking why Tillman is so special, and why there is so much grief over his death when hundreds of other, less well known soldiers have also perished.

Stalin, who was neither stupid nor crazy, said that a single death is a tragedy, whereas a million deaths are but a statistic. It is true that the human imagination fastens on to single personalities, not casualty statistics. There is no reason to apologize for the fact that Tillman, a professional athlete who turned away from millions of dollars in salary to serve his country as an Army Ranger, is better known to the public than other Americans who have sacrificed equally. He is as good a symbol as any to stand for them all.

Sadly, the right-wing lovefest for Pat Tillman lost its sheen when it was learned that (a) Tillman died as a result of friendly fire; (b) the friendly fire incident was covered up by the military; and (c) Tillman was not as gung-ho about the Iraq War as many ojn the right believed.

Kevin_pat_350When Pat joined the U.S. forces, he was joined by his brother Kevin.  Here they are in Iraq — Pat on the left, Kvein on the right.

Now honorably discharged, Kevin has something to say:

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 that 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.