On this fifith anniversary of 9.11, we wouldn’t be getting the whole story if we didn’t recognize the almost 3,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. While all of those fallen soldiers have their own stories, most are truly meaningful only to their friends, families, and loved ones. Let’s face it; soldiers don’t make the agate print in the sports section, and their individual exploits aren’t trumpeted to a populace eager to know their every move.
There is one soldier whose story all of us should acquaint ourselves with, because he wanted nothing more than to serve his country like any other soldier. Yes, most of us know that Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals. Most of us know that he was killed in action. What many Americans might not be aware of, though, is that TIllman didn’t die at the hand of the enemy. He was killed by friendly fire. What makes matters worse is that the Army did its best to cover up the facts. If not for the tenaciousness of his mother and her refusal to accept the official version of her son’s death, the Army would have continued to milk Tillman’s senseless death for every ounce of propaganda and recruiting value it could.
War doesn’t determine who’s right or wrong; it only determines who’s left. Pat Tillman walked away from a lucrative NFL contract to do what he thought was the right thing in the wake of 9.11. It’s just too bad that his country was more interested in treating his senseless death as some sort of honorable and worthy sacrifice instead of the senseless waste it was.
It would be bad enough if TIllman’s story was unique, but while Tillman died in Afghnistand, more than 2,600 Americans have died serving in Iraq…in a war that has NOTHING to do with 9.11 OR the war on terror. What a tremendous, criminal waste. It would be nice to think that the scarifice of these brave souls could be held to have some long-term salutary effect on the war on terror. Sadly, these heroes have died for nothing, and the person responsible for these deaths, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader, continues to preach the importance of “staying the course” and “finishing the mission.”
NOW CAN WE IMPEACH THE LYING BASTARD??
