Pat Tillman's Brother Kevin Speaks Out Against The War

[redstateblues]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2633793

[MidwestTransplant]

1. TRAITOR. How dare he question the war. His brother

was a Patriot. Oh wait, his brother was a Dem.? Nah. /end freeper rant

[saigon68]

13. He should be pissed

His brother was zapped in the back of the head, by some trigger happy fools on a hiking outing.

[tanyev]

2. I've checked Free Republic several times in the last few days

to see if anyone had posted this and what their comments would be. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Crickets.

[stanwyck]

19. They're too busy to comment

afterall, they're "fighting the war over here"...from their sofas and bar stools.
Of all the inanities that have been uttered during this travesty, I think the drunken, young Republican boasting in the bar about how he's "fighting the war"...from the bar had to be the most outrageous.
Hey, macho man, my son, a Marine with two tours and one coming up in January, has been fighting the war "over there".
And guess what?
It's a war without a definable enemy or a definable mission.
No wonder the Freepers aren't commenting.
What can they say?
Their "fighting over here" isn't working?

[cornfedyank]

3. hope espn broadcasts it a few times this football weekend..n/t

[bluestateguy]

4. He's just another liberal pussy who loathes America

(Do I really have to put the sarcasm icon up and take the punchline out of this joke?)

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. I hope Keith O gets hold of this.....

and invites this guy on his show. He should be making the rounds on all the talking head shows. The first time I read it, I got choked up. America needs to hear this right there on the TV.

[Kenergy]

9. Yes, he needs to be on KO n/t

[TomClash]

6. Athelets against the War include

Etan Thomas, Steve Nash, Josh Howard, Carlos Delgado

[cali]

7. kick, kick, kick.

this is a remarkable letter. If you haven't read it, do so. Thanks, Kevin, for your service, your sacrifice, and your eloquence.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Kevin Tillman's piece is a scathing indictment of Bush's war

Published on Friday, October 20, 2006 by Truthdig

After Pat’s Birthday

Kevin Tillman Honors Late Brother's Birthday with Plea to Speak up for Democracy

by Kevin Tillman

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1020-23.htm

[zonkers]

10. This is a big story.

[IndianaGreen]

11. A big story that should not be dumped on ESPN

considering the big production that was staged when Pat was killed, the least MSM should do is to give Kevin an equal forum to express his views.

[zonkers]

14. This seems ripe for Olberman. I would be suprised if it did not make it

on his show. Kick -- you are right, Kevin Tillman should be heard.

[krkaufman]

17. But also a VERY scathing indictment of the American people ...

... from my reading of it. It seems fairly clear, to me, that Kevin Tillman isn't singling out the government as responsible for where we've arrived.

From Kevin Tillman's letter...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday

He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people.
...
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
...
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity.

[Sven77]

12. he'll be interviewed this week

on the alex jones radio show. i dont have a date yet. also CIA Officer Robert Steele after his review of Tarpley's 'Synthetic Terror'.

[Heidi]

15. Kick.

:kick:

[laststeamtrain]

16. WP: Pat Tillman's Brother Blasts Iraq War, Bush

Pat Tillman's Brother Blasts Iraq War, Bush

Associated Press
Monday, October 23, 2006; A12

PHOENIX -- The brother of an NFL player who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan after quitting his team to join the Army Rangers has spoken out.

Kevin Tillman, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with his older brother, Pat, has been silent since his brother died in 2004. But last week, he wrote a scathing indictment of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and American apathy.

"Somehow, the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes," Kevin wrote on Truthdig.com, an online magazine that bought his work.

The brothers, Arizona State University graduates, joined the Army in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They served as Rangers with the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Pat Tillman, who played defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals, was killed near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in April 2004. The Defense Department is investigating allegations of a coverup, including failure by the Army to tell Tillman's family for several weeks that he had been killed by gunfire from his fellow Army Rangers.

<more>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102200937_pf.html

[krkaufman]

18. The AP article fails to mention a key focus of Kevin Tillman's ire ...

... the American people.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2573552#2575827