I'll go with thee to the lane's end... I am a kind of burr, I shall stick. Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

tenderComrade

I write not to teach but to learn. Rebecca West

drew's writing:

  • "Always Forever Now," Ideomancer volume 13, issue 2
  • "Black Sun," Black Static # 32
  • "Bread or Cake" and "Pride/Shame,"2nd Annual Philadelphia One-Minute Play Festival
  • "Copper Heart," Polluto Magazine issue 5, A Steampunk Orange
  • "The Accomplished Birder's Guide to Overcoming Rejection," Last Drink Bird Head, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
  • "Another Night With the Henriksens," Player's Theater Halloween One-Act Festival NYC 2008
  • "Hating the Lovers," and "Pipe Down!" Geez Magazine: Thirty Sermons You Would Never Hear in Church
  • "Beth/slash/Nathan," Paper Fruit Blogiversary Contest

Friday, July 27, 2007

Pat Tillman, new information

Yesterday the AP recieved official documents which state that the doctors performing the autopsy on Pat Tillman suspected that he was shot from within ten yards away. The documents also show that no evidence was found at the scene of Tillman's death to support the "friendly fire" explanation.

Tillman was a professional football player who gave up his career to fight in Afghanistan. He died in 2004, one month after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The military covered up the circumstances around Tillman's death until weeks after his memorial service. His Silver Star citation was a fiction that stated that he had died in a battle against enemy forces. The Army knew at the time that this battle had never taken place.

Tillman is one of the more fascinating characters of the War on Terror era. By the time of his death, Tillman had become disillusioned and highly critical of the war in Iraq. He urged a fellow soldier to vote for Kerry and described the Iraq War as illegal. He had gotten in touch with Noam Chomsky and made plans to visit him. Here's an article by Pat Tillman's brother Kevin that is really worth reading.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Are you suggesting that Pat Tillman was shot by US forces because he was disillusioned with Iraq and that he wanted to talk to Noam Chomsky?

10:00 AM
drew rhys white said...

Nope. Your theory is an interesting one, though. Considering the lengths to which this administration will go to protect itself-- Plame affair a good example-- it's not totally crazy to at least consider the possibility.

Chris Matthews on Hardball characterized the killing as a fragging. If you read the AP article, they seem to be framing it as a fragging too-- they mention the "sniveling" comment twice. AP doesn't come out and say it though.

There's no way to know why Tillman was shot. But the friendly fire explanation just got weaker.

Tillman was a complex and intelligent person. He didn't uncritically accept all the bromides that we are fed about our nation and our military. This makes the fact that the military manipulated the information around his death that much more horrifying a betrayal.

4:58 AM

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