Open Letter To The American People
From the Brother Of U.S Army Ranger And Former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/ccc247ee-9869-417e-ab10-fcab4bbe2d4f?comments=true#commentAnchor
Posted on Oct 19, 2006
By Kevin Tillman
Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat, (an Arizona Cardinal) in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
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.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.
Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,
Kevin Tillman
You may want to read this Washington Post article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35717-2004Dec4_5.html I'm not sure the money trail is the culprit here. I posted this yesterday so please excuse and "today's" or extraneous information.
Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother in the hearing today was a part of Pat's platoon. He arrived on scene 9 minutes after his brother was killed. He was in "serial-2" behind them coming up the mountain. Yet according to Henry Waxman and other Democrats the Pentagon is responsible. Does that sound logical to you or anyone?
Could the Pentagon or more importantly Karl Rove and President Bush actually conceive of and initiate a story in 9 minutes of his death. There were dozens of witnesses, both American and Afghani, guys very friendly with Pat Tillman and other grunts in this unit. Do you really suppose Kevin didn't figure it out on his own sitting high in the mountains of Afghanistan while others whispered around him?
I have all the pathos on the planet for Kevin Tillman and his family, but I'm beginning to think that Kevin's moral indignation is false. In short, he knew how his brother died. Saw a hero story develop in the press and simply went with it. Five weeks later the DOD burst the bubble with the results of their investigation. He now has to face his mother and father. By mid 2004 the tin foil being wrapped by Howard Dean, John Kerry, Michael Moore, George Soros and the remainder of the Move-On crowd, probably seemed an appropriate way out for the guy.
The above 3
rd paragraph is simply theoretical mind you, but the first two are simply facts.
Another interesting thing to do is a LexisNexis or probably even a Google news search on Pat Tillman starting on April 23, 2004 the day he was killed. All articles quote a military spokesman who basically says Pat Tillman was killed during a firefight. All of that is true and it is published in hundreds of articles printed in papers all across the country. The next day that same quote appears in Sports Illustrated along with a bit more embellishment. Two days later ESPN is talking hero and interviewing Pro-ball players like Jake Plummer who all say what a great guy and hero Tillman was. Three days later everyone is into the mix. Yet funny enough, still 3 days into the story the Pentagon still hasn't said a word except for the initial blurb that P. Tillman was killed. In fact on MSNBC on 4/26/04 3 days later they printed a
Spokesmen at the Defense Department and the Army would not comment Friday, in keeping with a policy that no U.S. casualties of war be identified for at least 24 hours. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4815441
Yeah, something doesn't ring true here, but clearly 3 days after his death the
DOD isn't talking yet every football coach, player, congressman and senator including John McCain and Jon Kyle have given glorious statements of
PT. And you're right, some pencil pusher somewhere started going Hollywood on us, but we call them journalists, not Mr. Secretary or Mr. President.
Please don't misunderstand me. Pat Tillman is truly a hero regardless of how he died. Hell, in my opinion he deserves the CMH and a Silver Star just for giving up a lucrative salary in a very unforgiving business ruled by youth and physical fitness. A sport that I'm sure he knew he would never return
.