American Leaders Steal Courage, Virtue & Honor of Soldiers!

Statment from 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 got 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 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.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

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

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

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. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.

With thanks to Kevin Tillman

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Bush
• War
• Pat
• Tillman
• Pete
• Stark
• Trump
• Kevin
• Iraq
• Soldiers
• military

[zombo611]

as soon as Ron Paul is sworn in.

Ron Paul 2008

[JackNeedles]

BOTH parties are controlled by corporate interestes. Both parties were for the war, except for a few candidates like Ron Paul. Hilalry voted for the war, Obama did, Rudy did, Romney did, and they're all now for attacking Iran! Please wake up and vote for a change. Vote Ron Paul and bring back the constitution and save our economy from crashing!

[LilSteve619]

what i dont get , is america is always in war a takes every body's happiness like iraq and afganistan and blah blah.. thats really mean..

[2warNINg]

"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy." - Henry Kissinger

[ihateneveen]

Lebanese voters credit their recent free election, in which the voters threw out Hezbollah, to President Bush. (American liberals, naturally, gave the credit to Obama, who they believe is responsible for the sun rising every morning.)

Brave Iranian students who protested the tyrant Ahmadinejad did so because of Iraq and then they stopped because of Obama's indifference.

[denalaurens]

What total bullshit. War is hell but necessary to rid the world of terror.

[adzug]

its not suppossed to. its not for the common citizen to profit, its for the oil cos and the politicians in bed with oil lobby

[DobermansRock]

All for oil? Are you sure? Because gas has'nt gotten any cheeper.

[canadianjames01]

Listen, even the politician's state that the civilian casulty figures could even approach 500,000. you're crazy to think otherwise.

The fact is that Iraq has been decimated, utterly and totally. And all for oil

[sahibzai]

now look at these dick heads,fuck you

[KhmerSerey1]

This war dragged on for far too long,it's time to bring the boys home,there's no clear objectives to this war,Saddam is gone,Osama still on the loose, we now have a new threat,Ahmadinejad of Iran.With the current economic down turn,this country really can't afford another war,it's way too costly.America is in debt,if you stack one dollar ontop of another,it will reach the fucking moon.

[KhmerSerey1]

They deprived him of the very things that he left his sport career and millions of dollars worth of football contract for,courage,virtues and honor.What kind of messages are the army sending out to future recruits ? it's down right shameful man,despicable.