The Arizona Cardinal who won’t be on the field tomorrow.
The Arizona Cardinal who won’t be on the field tomorrow.
Marcy Wheeler reminds us that “the most famous [Arizona] Cardinal” won’t be playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow, when his team takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers:
I speak, of course, of Corporal Pat Tillman, who left the NFL after 9/11 to serve in the Army Rangers. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. For months after his death, he was used as a propaganda tool to glorify Bush’s failed wars. The exposure of the truth behind Tillman’s death has since turned him into a symbol of the duplicity of the Bush Administration, the fight for the truth, and the futility of the war itself.
The New York Times writes that Tillman will not be forgotten this weekend. Soldiers will watch the game “from a U.S.O. center in Afghanistan that bears Tillman’s name and was built with money donated by the N.F.L. in his memory.” Tillman’s jersey, emblazoned with his number 40, is the best selling item on the team’s website. “It’s great,” said former Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer, who was Tillman’s college and Cardinals teammate and a close friend. “But in the grand scheme of things, it all kind of stinks because he’s not around.”
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Pat, you be remembered for what you stood for both on and off the field. A class act in every way.
But what the BushCo regime did was a travesty and is one of many, many despicable actions in their 8 long years of leaving droppings behind, like a parade of circus elephants.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:13 pmJust one very visible life of the hundreds of thousands (millions?) lost or ruined to Bush’s War of Lies. Pat, you gave your life in service to our country, but just as importantly, to begin to expose the truth behind the lies, spin and criminal actions of BushCo.
PEACE
January 31st, 2009 at 3:18 pmIt’s good he’s being remembered but it will be better when people start looking at how and more importantly, why he died.
A peruse of the evidence indicates foul play in Tillman’s death. Not an accident as is now being purported.
Tillman did join out of pure patriotism. Truth be known I think he was the best of us. Young, strong, fame and fortune at his feet, and he gave it up to serve his country because he believed what he was doing was right. That is sacrifice. Sacrifice on a level few of us ever attain.
But when Mr Tillman started looking at what was going on, particularly in Iraq, he realized he, along with the rest of the country, had been sold a bill of goods by the Bush administration. And he started to speak up.
Because he spoke up, warnings came. Mostly in the form of subtle death threats from other soldiers in his division. He wrote about these in letters home, and knew he had a target painted on him. It is clear from the nature of the threat and intimidation campaign against him during his last days that this was coming “from above”. Orders clearly whether written down or not, were to silence through threats and intimidation soldiers who were not on board with the “killfest” mentality, and those who dared concern themselves with civilian life and humanity were to be targeted for such intimidation.
Tillman of course was a big guy, and it was hard to intimidate him. When he made it clear he wouldn’t play ball, and that he planned on “speaking out” once his tour was up, I think he just presented too big of a threat to the Neocon agenda of demonizing and dehumanizing the Arab people and the harsh treatment of them. So people in his division murdered him.
The coverups that were exposed don’t hold a candle to the cover up that one day hopefully will be revealed. Pat Tillman was murdered.
There was nothing “friendly” about that fire at all.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:27 pmI live in Phoenix. I went to dinner last night and at a table next to us, was a group of people anticipating the coming Super Bowl. One lady wore a Pat Tillman jersey. It was bittersweet to see.
But one thing we can celebrate, is that the Bush administration is over. We will be living with it’s effects for many years, but at least hope has been restored with the Obama administration.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:27 pmWho killed him? Why? Who has been held responsible?
January 31st, 2009 at 3:29 pmThe brass had Tillman fragged because his sentiments were not sufficiently gung-ho for the corps…
He was planning a meeting with Noam Chomsky on his return. Irt wouldn’t do for the USArmy’s patriotic poster-boy for invsion porn were to present himself as an opponent of the military, would it?
What happened to his journal? Oh, that’s right: the fuuking military burned it…
Hmmmmm.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:32 pmJake Plummer: “But in the grand scheme of things, it all kind of stinks because he’s not around.”
Since Tillman was murdered by American troops in Afghanistan, I’d say in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t just “kind of” stink — it’s a complete tragedy for Tillman’s family, and they will likely never know the whole story surrounding their son’s murder. I can’t imagine living with that.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:32 pmFragging was a problem in Viet Nam. Command personnel who paid more attention to their ‘orders’ than to their troops.
Evidence indicates this was the flip side of that coin. How many other members of the military have given in? Judging from the words coming from returning vets, too many.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:35 pmHoodathunk,
I witnessed the aftermath of a fragging in Vietnam and knew the Lifer who was the target.
While I thought he was a #1 arsehole and terrible leader, I don’t condone that action, just like I don’t accept what happened to Pat.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:45 pmThe New York Times writes that Tillman will not be forgotten this weekend. Soldiers will watch the game “from a U.S.O. center in Afghanistan that bears Tillman’s name and was built with money donated by the N.F.L. in his memory.”
Lest we forget it was the NYTimes and the other media whores that catapulted bush’s propaganda.
If the goddamn media had done their job in the rush to invade Iraq, Tillman would very possibly be playing tomorrow. I’ve no illusions as to who built up this tower of lies.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:50 pmWell… now that Botch has returned to the Hell he came from (which apparently is Texas…), perhaps Obama will move this case from “the dead-ended by Exec Priviledge” file to the “active investigation” file.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:52 pmUpside99, I lost a buddy to fragging in Nam. I knew the man he had been but I understood why it happened. If he had been like Tillman, he would still be alive today.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:56 pmBefore samaritans misinterpret my #10 post by pointing out that Tillman was killed in Afghanistan,(Tillman was initially deployed in Iraq) my point was that the media sold falsehood upon falsehood and allowed the bush administration to encourage all manner of lies and partisanship concerning the military, patriotism, and the truth about Iraq.
Apparently Tillman was killed because he saw through the B.S. and wanted to talk truth. The corporate media, however, was too busy carrying bush’s water to support truth-seekers like Tillman and Joe Darby.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:04 pmThe Arizona Cardinal who won’t be on the field tomorrow.»
– - If a glorious and noble death for Tillman was a justification for America’s purpose, if we had to believe that so worthy a soul could not be lost without some greater meaning, now such a senseless mistake can be made to represent a greater, senseless mistake. To be famously dead is to be famously used, and as Tillman was manipulated then, he may be more so now. Either dishonors an honorable man.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:10 pmWith all respect to the Tillman family, will Jessica Lynch be suiting up for the big game?
January 31st, 2009 at 4:20 pmtilmans death reeks of criminality.
go steelers!
January 31st, 2009 at 4:22 pmskarecro, you are just plain sick
January 31st, 2009 at 4:24 pmPat Tillman represented the greater self-sacrifice so many would turn away from, but took it upon himself to try to prove that he could help make a difference.
Then all of that would be ripped asunder by a presidential administration that used the lie of his death as a cheap selling point to join their cause and took the gesture of Tillman’s sacrifice away by lowering the standards of admission into the military.
I’d like to think Pat Tillman wouldn’t have wanted to serve with gang members and other hoodlums, being trained to kill just to have a jail sentence erased.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:24 pmGod Bless and Rest In Peace to my fellow Soldier and Ranger Pat Tillman.
Nothing else needs to be said.
RIP
January 31st, 2009 at 4:26 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
If there truly was some “just God,” Tillman would be alive and playing tomorrow and George would be somebody’s b*tch in prison.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:32 pmThere are 4863 groups of friends and family who think “it kind of stinks” mr plumber. And that doesn’t even begin to describe the “stench” the iraquis and afghans have had to endure.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:33 pmPat Tillman was a planned “hit” by the Bush Crime Cabal because he’d planned to spill the beans on what was really going on over there. Everyone knows this. Proving it will take time but there are certain to be whistleblowers now that Bush is out of office. Someone’s conscience will eat him alive and they’ll spill the beans soon.
Then we can go after Bush and his crime cabal for Tillman’s murder.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:37 pmPerhaps during some of the Tillman retrospectives this weekend, that certain whistleblower’s conscience will force him to spill the beans.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:37 pmThen we can go after Bush and his crime cabal for Tillman’s murder.
Vincent Bugliosi has laid out a case that can be made for prosecuting George W. Bush for murder in any state that lost soldiers in the Iraq War (which would be all of them).
The People’s E-Mail Network (The PEN) has put together a list of local state prosecutors so we can contact them and ask them to bring a case against Bush.
Local Prosecutor Lookup: http://www.peaceteam.net
January 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pmthis is mean, maybe, but i feel this sort of dread…
if the cardinals win, it’ll be “warner’s god” and tillman’s “angel” that did it…
other than that, i’d like to root for the (former) home team and underdog… but then, corps show no loyalty, why should i…
so, if for no other reason than to not hear about another miracle,
GO STEALERS.
… naaah… i really don’t care who wins…
but, mark my word, if arizona wins… be ready…
RIP Corporal Pat Tillman, et alia.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:57 pmTinfoil hats for sale, getcher tinfoil hats right heeere!
You know, y’all ascribing motives to his death are using it for a political purpose, just like Bush did, right? You know that, right?
If you want to put him on a poster for your side, use his life, not his death. There’s a difference between both tactics, and it’s rather significant IMO.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:10 pmPAT TILLMAN Born 11/6/1976 Died 4/22/2004
Arizona Cardinals # 40 (retired)
Arizona State University # 42 (retired)
United States Army— Silver Star, Purple Heart.
Pat Tillman was 27 years old.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:11 pmSince a first year law student could put together a legal case on Bushco’s war crimes, it doesn’t mean that said case would have an validity. We be a society of incredible diversity and complexity. Life, death, crime, savior…it all be nuanced.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:14 pmHoodathunk,
It would have validity if they would just actually do it. I’m not sure what you meant by the rest of your comment.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:18 pmPat Tillman is a true hero as he spoke up when others wouldn’t. Pat was murdered by our govenment/Pentagon because he wouldn’t go along with the lies and stood up for what was right. As he was about to be released and come home the fear was to much for Our Leaders and Pat was slienced for good. Many stories have been told but the proof is with his fellow soldiers and the Military Generals who refuse to tell the truth. God knows the truth and who is responsible as Pat will be cheering for his football team members. I’m a Griant Fan but this time I rooting for Pat’s team.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:18 pmTP really has to develop a snark key.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:22 pmWayne, the criteria isn’t whether a case can be built, as I said, a first year law clerk could do that. It is a question about whether the US has the cojones to do it and let the system work.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:24 pmOkay, Hoodathunk, thanks. I did not get that from the comment you posted, but I see your point.
Still, that’s why we all need to contact our local state prosecutors (especially if you lost a family member, friend, or neighbor in the war) and urge them to do this. Most of them are elected officials, and if they are publicly put on the spot they may have little political choice but to respond to the wishes of the people whom they want to re-elect them.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:28 pmWayne, you are so right. Sad part is, why should we have to push them? The Constitution is the same for all of us. We elected the sorry putzs, should we have to tell them, in detail, every day, what their job is?
January 31st, 2009 at 5:35 pmWhere are the trolls to defend the Bush Administration’s murder of Pat Tillman?
January 31st, 2009 at 5:43 pmHi windsor.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:53 pmI don’t mean to pry but what is your prob with bjs. Just wondering. Do you think Cheney is a coward for pussing out on serving his nation?
Speaking of Pat Tillman if Chomsky had really wanted to end the Iraq War he would have told everyone Tillma was against the war with in hours of his death.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:56 pmSo what type of hat was Pat Tillman wearing when he wrote home saying the same thing?
And there are no politics involved in speaking out for the truth.
Unless of course you’re a neocon.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:17 pmbuttsor says
Any coward who sat in the Oval Office and ordered unmanned Predator drones to fire Hellfire missiles at civilians in the sovereign nation of Iraq should be frog marched to the Hauge…RIGHT F’ING NOW!!
Couldn’t agree more my non bj getting friend.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:19 pmCouldn’t agree more.
windsor Says:
RIGHT F’ING NOW!!
__________
Gee… windsock… you seem to have a knot in your knickers today.
Care to come back and discuss this?
January 31st, 2009 at 6:25 pmDRxJ Says:
Couldn’t agree more my non bj getting friend.
________
Yeah… but w/ a personality like windsock’s, you KNOW he’s getting all the hand jobs he can handle. ;-)!
January 31st, 2009 at 6:27 pmBread and games for the morons. There are more important things then the stupid bowl going on. Get a life, people.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:27 pmwindsor Says:
Any coward who sits in the Oval Office and orders unmanned Predator drones to fire Hellfire missiles at civilians in the sovereign nation of Pakistan should be frog marched to the Hauge…
That’s like our last five Presidents right there. Lobbing individual missiles into purportedly civilian areas of countries we’re not at war with started with Reagan, and every President since has tossed at least one from time to time.
Unless the specifics – Pakistan, Predator, Hellfire – are what you’re complaining about. In which case you’re nuts.
.
WAYNEBRO Says:
So what type of hat was Pat Tillman wearing when he wrote home saying the same thing?
And there are no politics involved in speaking out for the truth.
Pat Tillman wrote home saying he had been murdered?
And yes, the truth is as political as any other claim. Everyone believes what they believe, and not everyone agrees.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:28 pmElBruce Says:
Tinfoil hats for sale, getcher tinfoil hats right heeere!
You know, y’all ascribing motives to his death are using it for a political purpose, just like Bush did, right? You know that, right?
If you want to put him on a poster for your side, use his life, not his death. There’s a difference between both tactics, and it’s rather significant IMO.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
That doesn’t quite sound like the ElBruce whose comments I normally respect and agree with.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:29 pmdbearton Says:
Bread and games for the morons. There are more important things then the stupid bowl going on. Get a life, people.
What are you, the fun police? Now people can’t have sports? And it’s “bread and circus.”
January 31st, 2009 at 6:33 pmafter some team wins some game tomorrow, will we announce the “world” champions? That part is so lame…
January 31st, 2009 at 6:51 pmI support President Obama and trust he will make the best decisions he can in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
But, if Tillman was planning to meet with Chomsky, it would make sense to consider Chomsky’s take on not only Iraq, but the future of American agression in the Middle East.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=83595§ionid=3510302
We should be asking the same questions today, that we think Tillman wanted answered before his death.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:56 pmdbadass Says:
after some team wins some game tomorrow, will we announce the “world” champions? That part is so lame…
I agree. That’s just American egotism at work again. MLB at least has one team from Canada, and NHL has a few hockey teams from Canada. But football has nothing but American teams, so claiming a “world championship” (in a sport whose name means something else to most of the rest of the world) is pretty silly.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:00 pmMatt. Here’s a point. (from the link)
Why was Chomsky used by progressives to disparage Bush policy in Iraq, but now conveniently dismiss today?
I think Obama’s doing a good job, but I think progressives need to make up their minds. Was all criticism of heavy handed American policy in the region only partisan attacks to gain power?
Or where they really conscientious objections to help steer American policy in a better direction?
If Chomsky’s opinions were important then, why aren’t they important today?
January 31st, 2009 at 7:16 pmHere’s another quote from the link:
Tillman disagreed with Bush policy in Iraq. He was meeting with Chomsky. It makes sense to consider Chomsky’s position.
Check it out:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=83595§ionid=3510302
January 31st, 2009 at 7:22 pmNope. Didn’t say that.
He spoke of his fear of his own men and his commanders, and the death threats he was getting for not shutting up and going with the program.
He said he was afraid of his own men.
Then, his own men, the same men he said he was afraid of, killed him. 3 shots from a sniper rifle. All to the head.
Then they burned his uniform and body armor and lied about his death.
ThenLt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal who was the commander that awarded Tillman his Silver Star writes a P4 memo to Centcom warning that his death appeared to be a fratricide.
Yet you call us the “tinfoil hat” wearers?
They shoot him in three times in the forehead from 10 yards away in broad daylight after threatening repeatedly to do just that, but you think it was an accident.
:|
You know… I’ve got some really nice Floridian marshland for sale that I think you might be interested in.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:33 pmThe guy writes that his men are threatening him.
Then, they shoot him three times in the forehead with a sniper rifle from 10 yards away in broad daylight.
Then they burn the evidence and lie to the investigators about what happened.
And yet you think we wear tin foil hats for thinking they murdered him. Amazing. I guess you think O.J was innocent too?
:|
So let me see if I’ve got this straight. If I threaten my neighbor, then shoot him three times in the forehead with my hunting rifle, then burn the evidence and lie to the police investigators telling them another neighbor shot him, then after they dig the bullets out and confirm they are from my rifle I change my story and tell them I shot him but I thought he was a deer, you’d find nothing wrong with that and send me on my way?
Yet we’re the ones wearing the tin foil hats.
Amazing.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:42 pmI so hope that President Obama launches a real investigation into Tillman’s assassination. It’s about time the truth is revealed.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:45 pmtokin librul Says:
What happened to his journal? Oh, that’s right: the fuuking military burned it…
What happened to his body armor? What happened to his uniform? What happened to his weapon?
They all mysteriously disappeared.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:48 pmBilbo.
I think there is enough doubt about the circumstance to warrant an investigation. you’re right.
What do you think about this?
Tillman disagreed with Bush policy in Iraq. He was meeting with Chomsky. It makes sense to consider Chomsky’s position.
Check it out:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=83595§ionid=3510302
January 31st, 2009 at 7:52 pmBefore I pick up a rifle and go overseas to kill people, I would need one hell of a good reason to do so. Listening to a pack of lies from Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Richard Pearl wouldn’t be reason enough for me.
I think Pat Tillman was a little too “gung-ho” for his own good.
January 31st, 2009 at 9:01 pmWAYNEBRO , your post moved me to tears. One friend with whom I corresponded regularly was stationed in Iraq, and after the horrifying Fallujah incidents, he wrote me some of the truth about what was REALLY going on in Iraq, when I had expressed disbelief about the “party line” that he had just written to me. . . turns out that he had been INSTRUCTED and GIVEN COPIES of what he was to say. . . . Although we had e-mailed easily for months,, after that interchange I suddenly got an e-mail from headquarters telling me that no such soldier existed. . . having some activist friends with better contacts than mine, I sent out a call for help, enclosing the relevant e-mails. One bold friend actually made telephone calls. . . and he found the soldier who had been forced to write the required letter, and we got THAT out on the Net the same day. . . and suddenly, my friend in Iraq existed again! Filth, lies, murder, cover-ups, brutality, manipulation: you name it; BushCo forced our troops to do it. Pat Tillman’s death resonated through many levels of society all across America. . . and “his truth goes marching on.” A great man–MANY great or potentially great men and women–sacrificed to greed and lust for power. Thank you, WAYNEBRO, for your beautiful and right-on-target tribute. Most sincerely, telestai2.
P.S. For months after that, I added to EVERY e-mail in which I excoriated BushCo a dare for Homeland Security to come get me. It was OBVIOUS from the sudden “disappearance” and reappearance of my friend on-line that my e-mails WERE being monitored: mild-mannered college prof was telling a truth that BushCo did not want stated.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:13 pmHow many NASCAR drivers signed up to defend the country from Islamofascism?
None that I can think of.
January 31st, 2009 at 11:04 pmUntil yesterday, I didn’t really care who won this Superbowl. I will now be rooting for the Cardinals to honor Pat Tillman. If the Cards win, I hope the Cards will recognize Tillman with a Superbowl ring.
February 1st, 2009 at 12:12 pmwindsor Says:
You are just an ignorant piece of garbage. A punk troll without a single functioning braincell. You make pondscum look intelligent and in the scheme of things you are a pustulent seeping herpes sore
February 1st, 2009 at 12:43 pm