The Who:
The When:
Started his football career as a linebacker for Arizona State University in 1994, and excelled as a linebacker at Arizona State, despite being relatively small for the position.
- As a senior, he was voted the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Tillman majored in marketing and graduated in 3 1/2 years with a 3.84 GPA.
- In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 227th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL and started ten of sixteen games in his rookie season.
- Tillman turned down a five-year, $9 million contract offer from the St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the Cardinals.
In May 2002, eight months after the September 11, 2001 attacks and after completing the fifteen remaining games of the 2001 season which followed the attacks (at a salary of $512,000 per year),Tillman turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.
The What:
April 22, 2004: Pat Tillman is shot and killed by a hail of bullets on a road near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire.
- April 30, 2004: U.S. Army Special Operations Command releases a stirring account of how Tillman was cut down by enemy fire while shouting out orders to his men. Tillman is posthumously awarded a Silver Star for combat valor.
May 3, 2004: The Pentagon propaganda machine orchestrates an exquisitely produced nationally televised memorial for Pat Tillman.
- May 29, 2004: True details of Tillman’s death - from freindly fire - are finally revealed, to Tillman’s family and to the public.
- June 9, 2005: After Tillman’s parents harshly criticize the delay in informing them of the true circumstances of their son’s death, the Army apologizes.
- August 23, 2005: The Pentagon announces that the Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office is launching a review of the previous flawed investigation into the death of Pat Tillman.
- March 4, 2006: The US army announces that as a result of the Inspector General’s review, it will now launch a criminal investigation into the death of Pat Tillman.
- July 13, 2007: White House and the Pentagon cite executive privilege to hold up documents on Tillman's friendly fire Death.
- July 27, 2007:The Associated Press publishes a report based upon 2,300 pages of testimony obtained from the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. This report contains conclusions of medical examiners that, based on the three bullet holes in Tillman's head, he was killed at a range of ten yards.
Executive privilege: the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain search warrants and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government. Executive privilege is not mentioned in the United States Constitution. However, the Supreme Court has considered it to be an element of the separation of powers doctrine, and derived from the supremacy of the executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity. In U.S. vs. Nixon, the SCOTUS affirmed "the valid need for protection of communications between high Government officials and those who advise and assist them in the performance of their manifold duties..."The How: See Fragging.
Fragging: In a military context, the assault, wounding, or assassination of an unpopular member of one's own fighting unit, originally using small weapons or explosives.
The Why: See Executive Privilege.
If they have nothing to hide, why do they hide everything?
Vigil,
ReplyDeleteReason One: For whatever reasons, it is habitual for Bush-Cheney. One might speculate that this pattern of reflexive lying originated in George Bush's early years (and continues to this day). He seems to have learned that he, himself, would never ever have to face the consequences of any of his actions. His Daddy, or Daddy's connected and rich friends, would bail him out of any jam.
Reason Two: Cheney's rejection of all other possible candidates to run with "W" in 2000 seems based upon the knowledge that "W" would need A "Daddy"/A "Keeper"/"An Adult" if "W" were to have the opportunity to play "President". Thus we have the Puppeteer (read: "The Real President") and his puppet (read: "The Shrub", who masquerades as President). Obviously, the truth about who The True "Decider" is must be kept hidden at all times, hence, we have W's reflexive and habitual lying (always accompanied by "The Smirk").
Reason Three: Look at the fantastic story concocted by this administration around Jessica Lynch. That story, sold to the ever sycophantic media, was a complete and utter falsehood, designed to glorify our preemptive invasion of Iraq.
Similarly, the Administration had exploited Tillman's patriotism in giving up a lucrative football contract to go to Afghanistan. When he was killed, the fabricated story was devised in an attempt to ennoble his death and to avoid having the public raise questions about what it means that Tillman was killed by friendly fire or by fragging. To have the truth known might have meant that our nation would have had a discussion about the emotional costs to our brave soldiers, to their loved ones, and to each of us who are Tillman's fellow citizens. Something this administration is determined to forever deny us.
They sure do have a hard time with their manufactured heroes, even when their heroes get killed off. No wonder they tried to make Terri Schiavo into their Horst Wessel.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Reconstitution blogroll.
Fact: The criminals in the White House need to be removed!
ReplyDeleteImpeachment is the answer!
They are in bullshit mode 24/7. It's standard operating procedure.
ReplyDeleteWhen they get caught, they just bullshit some more.
It's a game for them. They like to see what they can get away with. Snowing the public is their modus operandi.
The Tillman coverup is in the same boat as the order barring pictures of the flag draped coffins flying into Dover Air Force Base and the fact that Bush has never attended a combat soldier's funeral, something that to the best of my military knowledge a Commander-in-Chief has always done in wartime to some extent. Bush and company have wanted to keep the war as nice and clean as possible so not to draw too much attention to the uncomfortable messy aspects of combat and expose their piss poor planning.
ReplyDeleteI must admit to being shocked about the apparent fragging nature of Tillman's death. During my army service I was lucky enough to have a bunch of officers and NCO's over me that served in combat in Vietnam and talked openly about the many issues they faced back then. The subject of fragging came up several times over the years, needless to say it was a subject lightly and carefully treaded upon.
I'd add one thing. Tillman was quite disillusioned with the Bush regime, opposed Bush's war for oil and conquest in Iraq, and intended to air his views in a planned meeting with Chomsky. Bush's recruiting poster boy was about to become a major liability. Was Tillman more useful to Bush as a dead hear than a live opponent? Certainly! Did Bush order the killing, himself?
ReplyDeleteGreat minds, Vig. You might want to look at the Olbermann vid I put up this morning.