The Diary....
From a reader:
To be clear, I'm not convinced yet that this was anything other than an accidental death, with a subsequent cover-up (just as the Abu Ghraib story was breaking) to portray Tillman as a hero killed by hostile fire. I think that cover-up probably reached the highest levels of the Pentagon and into the White House. But let's see what we find out next....the rolling revelations continue, three years on.
I served in Operation Desert Storm. After I got out of the military I became a police officer. Reading about Pat Tillman's death, something really stuck out to me: He kept a diary. Major red flag there. As a cop, if we had a guy in the stationhouse watching us and writing down what he saw everyday in a little black book, you can probably guess how that would go over with everyone else. Same thing in the military, even more so. There were a couple of guys who kept diaries when I served. But those were very basic "what chow we had today" etc. types of things, a way to pass downtime more than anything else. The guys who kept them were not writing about illegal wars or upcoming meetings with Noam Chomsky. One other thing, because of his high profile you can be sure Tillman's views were known up through the chain of command right into the Pentagon, which was almost certainly getting regular reports on Tillman from his superiors. And what happened to Tillman's diary? Right after he was killed it was destroyed. No surprise there.Me: In addition to last week's report that medical examiners said the shots that killed Tillman appeared to have been fired from ten yards away, over the weekend the AP also reported that some snipers -- whose names Tillman's comrades don't remember -- arrived in a Humvee just prior to his death, got out of their vehicle, and started shooting.
To be clear, I'm not convinced yet that this was anything other than an accidental death, with a subsequent cover-up (just as the Abu Ghraib story was breaking) to portray Tillman as a hero killed by hostile fire. I think that cover-up probably reached the highest levels of the Pentagon and into the White House. But let's see what we find out next....the rolling revelations continue, three years on.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Monday, July 30, 2007
23 Comments:
I think that cover-up probably reached the highest levels of the Pentagon and into the White House.
Well, since the White House has already claimed Executive Priviledge regarding the matter, I'd say you're absolutely right.
Don't attack the practice of soldiers keeping diaries. Military authorities have very often tried to prevent soldiers from writing them, but fortunately have been unsuccessful. Doing historical research, I've found these extremely useful. Letters too. One of the problems with the advent of email may be that these marvellous sources of information may be lacking for future generations of historians.
Hey, they got a twofer. Killed a damned librul traitor, got good publicity for the war by pretending they regarded him as a hero dying in the line of fire.
How conveeeenient.
"Accidental?" Open your eyes. The Bush administration ordered his murder.
We all need to wake up to the reality of this administration. The sooner the better.
"The Bush administration ordered his murder."
There are plenty of rational explanations that stop short of "The Bush administration ordered his murder." I'm not saying that they definitely "did not" order his murder, however, there's no reason at this point to speculate they did, other than to include it in one of the many possible explanations from which to pick. Further, we obviously don't know all facts about what happened thanks to the cover-up. Would be best to continue the investigation and stop speculating wildly about who ordered an American soldier's murder until evidence as such presents itself.
I'm not saying they did order the killing, since I think an unabashed cover-up is more likely, but it really has gotten to the point that there is almost no such thing as "wild" speculation when it comes to this administration. No matter how skeptical you are of their motives, it usually turns out you are not skeptical enough.
I have a very basic question. Can an M16 fire a tight grouping of shots accidentally to a man's forhead? That sounds really frigging crazy to me. I would think you would have recoil and all that, and you wouldn't have such a tight grouping to a forhead without deliberate aiming at a man's head.
I agree with Jeff in Texas that no speculation is too wild to at least consider. I was a big fan of Tillman and I admire his family's attitude very much, but I used to wonder why they kept pushing for more information, when it seemed self-evident to me that the "story" was simply a very tragic mistake. These recent revelations, and the continued refusal to release information, make it completely reasonable for the Tillman family to demand further answers.
Winnipeg Catholic,
The M-16 has a three-round "burst" setting, and a Ranger could easily fire a very tight three-round burst. Every member of a Ranger battalion is required to regularly qualify on the firing range at the "expert" level with the M-16. And the M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon, which fires the very same round as the M-16, could also easily create a small three-round grouping.
The accident, if it was an accident, would come from the misidentification of the person being shot. But three rounds in the head? Normal business in a Ranger battalion.
would they set him up for a hit?
absolutely, anyone huge numbers of US people would listen to get's taken out.
did they? i'd bet on it. getting down to the nitty gritty now may be impossible though.
i heard his whole crew is back stateside and scattered for the most part.
he would have put a major dent in the 08 repub election scene that's a fer sure.
he figgered out what a BS shituation "W"'s little war is and had the courage to speak out.
that's what i'll remember and i'll add him to the list.
MLK
John Lennon
Wellstone
Tillman
Pat gladly went to volunteer
He was a man with little fear.
Pat saw the fight was a lie
So for that he had to die
Three bullets in the head,
Pat Tillman lies stone dead.
The President did not care
The truth with them to share.
But his family always knew
What was told was not true.
Their son was sent home dead
With three bullets in the head.
The President, a silence keeps.
While the Tillman family weeps,
Not knowing why Pat was shot.
Yet the President cares not
That their son lies stone dead
With three bullets in his head.
Tillman "offed"-I agree.(I'm a Viet Vet) the M-16,to have a tight 3 bullet group had to be fired on auto at close range. Tjhe recoil at ant distance would greatlt move impact area wider.Plus after one shot,he would begin to drop. These things have happened thoughout history. Most are so dumbed down,they hardly notice.Remember JFK,RFK, JFK Jr,MLK,Ruby,Oswald, John Tower,Wellstone--the list goes on forever. Check Bush-body-count
This administration is guilty of undermining justice in America. This administration has caused it's citizens and the world, to think of this country as little more than a tin horn dictator's province. Never in our country's history has there been a more clear cut case for IMPEACHMENT. The liar in chief needs to be removed from office...not just impeached, but convicted! God Blass America - god damn this administration! Peace.
Re: the "Bush killed Tillman" theories, I think it pays to remember the political Occam's Razor: never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.
The administration saw a chance for a bit of ephemeral propaganda and took it. In the process, they glossed over or ignored some of the inconsistencies. Later, when the questions began to pop up (friendly fire, dirty librul, possible murder) they panicked and went straight to Bush Team Plan A, "pretend it didn't happen and flip the bird at anyone who says it did."
I think that's a much more plausible explanation than "Bush had a high-profile soldier killed because, uh, he's evil."
an old article that gives a view of what we thought was happening in sept 2006:
Remember His Name
Even as a boy Pat Tillman felt a destiny, a need to do the right thing whatever it cost him. When the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11, he thought about what he had to do and then walked away from the NFL and became an Army Ranger....
Posted: Tuesday September 5, 2006 11:37AM; Updated: Tuesday September 5, 2006 5:54PM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/magazine/09/05/tillman0911/index.html
HAve you tried a new religion called DEISM? The sams as the what USA was founded on.
Read Thomas Paine - Age of Reason.
"HAve you tried a new religion called DEISM?"
Funny, last night over beers we were talking about how to return the United States to the kind on Enlightenment principles held by the Founders. You see, there's this amazing, revolutionary document called "The Constitution of The United States" that we think might be worth exploring further.
no tears for a fucking murderer. the war in afghanistan is every bit as illegal as the war in iraq.
tillman is representative of everything that is wrong with this fucke dup country. first he's a hero because he could play football well (hello???) and then he's a hero because he sacrificed millions of dollars in order to have the priveledge of killing 100% innocent people.
then, when he half-realizes that shit isnt right, what does he do? does he stand up and say so? hell, no. he makes secret plans to visit chomsky AFTER he's done killing innocent people.
yes, bush and company probably had him murdered. just like they had 3000+ people mudered on 9/11. but it doesnt change the fact that EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE US MILITARY EXCEPT FOR HASAN AKBAR AND EHREN WATADA ARE WAR CRIMINALS.
and dont forget it.
I agree with the "hillbillies in America" post - even so-called young urban people lack much intellectual depth these days. Therefore, I suggest changing the name of the US to Dogpatch. After all, we already have Lil' Abner as our "leader."
Tillman was killed because he was returning to the US as an anti-war activist. These wars are for Israel. As the US army carries out zionist commands, the US gov't clamps down on our rights at home by suspending habeas corpus, stealing private lands, banning books like 'America Deceived', opening mail and conducting illegal wrietapping. Impeach them all.
Last link (before Stark County District Library caves to pressure and drops the title):
America Deceived (book)
So, anonymii... Are you real anti-Semites, or are you Zionists pretending to be anti-Semites? It could go either way. Am I an anti-Semite? Hmmm. See, there ya go. I don't like Likud, so I guess I fit the definition. Are Americans idiots? Yup. Y'all got that one right. Praise Jeezus!
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A lot of effective data for myself!
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