Noam Chomsky remarks on the death of Pat Tillman

Pat Tillman was a professional football player with the Arizona Cardinals.

In response to the September 11, 2001 incident, he passed up a $3.6 million contract and joined the Army. His sacrifice became made him a symbol of patriotism and a poster child for Army recruiters.

Pat Tillman came to his senses and turned against the wars. Through friends and family, he made contact with anti-war icon Noam Chomsky.

Perhaps Tillman was ready to make a public statement of opposition to the wars, which would have been a public relations catastrophe for the Army. We will never know. Perhaps the Army knew he was going to go public with a statement of opposition. We will never know.

Pat Tillman took three bullets through the head on April 22, 2004. He was shot at close range by his own men while on paatrol in Afghanistan.

A massive coverup followed, in which the public was told that Tillman had been killed by hostile fire. He was awarded the Silver star. The conspiracy to deceive Tillman's grieving family and the public went to the highest levels of the Army, and centered on one Lt. General Stanley McChrystal.

Eventually, the fraud was exposed, and a half-hearted congressional investigation followed.

Pat Tillman is still dead. His mother, Mary Tillman, still grieves. Lt. General Stanley McChrystal was promoted to supreme commander of the Afghan theater.

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[rarosera]

@Fishtowner666 I was pointing out facts; shot 3 times in the head, point blank, by fellow US troops, shortly after stating disagreement with the war. Call that a conspiracy theory if you like, but it happens to be the truth. What are you doing? Giving an opinion, a fanatical, entrenched, delusional one at that. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for being so deluded and easily led and for metaphorically spitting on Tillman's memory, scumbag.

[TheChoice264]

"In modern war... you will die like a dog for no good reason."---Ernest Hemingway.

[G58]

@yellowlabhooper Your narrow minded, pseudo 'patriotic' theory is so naive it's laughable. Take a look at the combat head bullet wound statistics. How many are shot once in the head? How many are shot TWICE in the head? How many are shot THREE TIMES in the head? When you've done that, ask: Who shoots someone in the head, and why?

[humblejumpify]

@tjrxk7Chomsky is an academic behemoth. Show him some respect.

[tjrxk7]

Well Chomsky......you sure gave us a lot of your wisdom here with the Pat Tillman affair. Funny how you have to search for words for this one.

[rarosera]

@DickLodge68 Dude, how is my refraining from calling you 'dude' supposed to help god's sake in any way? Or is it a case of you just saying things with no meaning, like 'for god's sake' without being aware that it is an inane thing to say? Regardless, you say WAR is sometimes necessary - that's the big lie developed by weapons manufacturers with politicians in their pockets. If it was actually NECESSARY weapons would be 'sequestered/comandeered.' . You are very uneducated sir.

[Thatguywithlogic]

He was Atheist - and they say Atheist's are cowards. RIP man.

[theoutremerlibrary]

Both Japan and Germany were suing for peace before the war . This is true but not included in the BS history WE have all had shuved down our throats . Have a guess who were the biggest financial backers of the N A Z I party . It will be the last 'people'

you expect , and , it is true.... Sure we need to defend ourselves from cunts . But it's knowing the right cunts , that's the hitch...

[DickLodge68]

@rarosera First up, ANY war is bullshit. But times come when it is necessary. You should be old enough to grasp that. It's obvious you hate Americans. Fine..a bit sophomoric, but whatever. You are in the UK and should know better. Neville Chamberlain was an anti-war "intellectual" that almost got the Nazis to wipe out your country. You'd be speaking German now. Believe what you want, friendly-fire is common in any war. And for God's sake don't call me dude, you prissy, conspiratorial ass-wipe!

[rarosera]

@DickLodge68 Dude, the guy wrote to one of the foremost antiwar intellectuals to ask him for advice on how he should go about explaining to the masses like you how the war is a bunch of bullshit, he was then shot 3 times point blank, the name of whomever did the shooting is not known. Come to your own cunclusions, coincidence or NOT coincidence. I know american soldiers shit their pants and panic and shoot indiscriminately when they are cakking their pants, but maybe there is more to this...

[DickLodge68]

@rarosera I didn't try to hijack their name for my purposes. It's part of the topic you idiot.