Thursday, July 26, 2007

Was Pat Tillman fragged?

I am starting to wonder whether some in the US military covered up and lied about Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan because they concluded he was likely fragged. See here to see what I mean.

It doesn't change the Cheney-Rove (Bush) administration's cynical use of Pat Tillman's death to propagate their war hype. But...it adds a layer that seems to have been missed in most commentary. In Googling "Pat Tillman" and "frag," I found mostly commenters at various web sites offering that as an opinion or assertion. However, there were no "offical" reporters or articles stating that Tillman may have been intentionally killed by fellow soldiers.

If Tillman was a jerk to his men, such as intentionally putting them in dangerous situations where there was little to gain and almost certain death for several of the people in the unit, and if he did belittle his men for challenging such decisions, then it becomes that much more important not to assume Tillman was a "hero" while ripping the Pentagon's initial lies about Tillman's death where they called him a "hero" killed by "enemy fire."

While I did not myself come out and call Tillman a "hero," I was later favorably disposed toward Tillman by the fact that he read Chomsky and was opposed to the Iraq War II.

And, by the way, Ted Rall was still more wrong than right about Tillman, though perhaps not as wrong as people such as myself said at the time.

In other words, there's lots of humility to go around, starting with the Cheney-Rove crew, but working its way through many of us at lesser levels.

War's a bitch that keeps on bitching. And while Tillman died in the "better" war in Afghanistan (I supported that action from its beginnings), it's still time to ask, what are we doing at this point there, too?

(Edited)

ADDENDUM: A close in time comrade in arms undermines fragging theory...

1 Comments:

At 6:16 PM, Anonymous paulr said...

What's that they say about the first casualty of war? I remember how stupid I felt after mindlessly repeating to someone the media reports of the heroics by Jessica Lynch and her rescuers - all false. We may someday know the facts in the Tillman case, but I am not holding my breath.

 

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