Are those lying ratfarking whores finally going to be exposed?

Why Did Pat Tillman Die?: An Investigation Reopens
By Dave Zirin

Paging Mr. Orwell. In explaining why the Army was
finally launching a criminal investigation of the
April 2004 friendly fire death of NFL
star-turned-Army-Ranger Pat Tillman, the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace sighed, "Although
there is no evidence there was criminal activity the
investigators did not specifically look at whether
there was criminal activity." In other words, the
previous four investigations were flawless except for
the fact that they didn't investigate anything. Now
the Army has committed publicly to reexamining the
circumstances around Pat Tillman’s death as a formal
criminal probe.

The reopening of the case represents a triumph for the
Tillman family, particularly Pat’s parents Patrick Sr.
and Mary, who have been pushing for a criminal probe
for almost two years. 

Mary Tillman told the Washington Post Saturday, "The
military has had every opportunity to do the right
thing and they haven't. They knew all along that
something was seriously wrong and they just wanted to
cover it up."

Patrick Sr. has also said, in the past,  "They
purposely interfered with the investigation, they
covered it up. [T]hey realized that their recruiting
efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if
the truth about his death got out. They blew up their
poster boy."

Both Tillmans have remained convinced that there was
an extensive and significant cover up around Pat's
death and they don't need an investigation to tell
them so. What they want to know is why. They want to
know why it took five weeks for the military to tell
them the truth after Pat died. They want to know why
Pat's journal, which he had kept assiduously for
years, was destroyed in the aftermath of his death.
They want to know why his clothes and other
surrounding evidence were burned. They want to know
why Pat’s brother, an Army Ranger in close proximity
to the incident, was lied to immediately about how Pat
fell. They want to know why Pat was given the Silver
Star posthumously, which is supposed to be a medal
earned for active combat. They want to know why
someone concocted the story repeated by endless
eulogizers at Pat’s nationally televised funeral about
Pat charging up a hill, and falling in a brutal
firefight vs. 'Taliban guerrillas.' They want to know
why the truth was withheld from them at their son’s
burial even though the completed preliminary
investigation had already found that his death had
been caused by "an act of gross negligence." The
Tillmans want to know why they weren't told of an
early investigator’s report that stated the actions of
Tillman's unit were "characterized by secrecy,
mishandling of evidence, and delays in reporting
crucial facts about what had happened." 

The Inspector General's review was launched because
the Tillmans, by all accounts a private family, chose
to reveal an image of their son very at odds with the
GI Joe image concocted inside the Pentagon. The Pat
Tillman his parents unveiled felt the war in Iraq was
"f'ing illegal" and counted among his favorite authors
anti-imperialist critic Noam Chomsky. He even had a
meeting set up with Mr. Chomsky that he was never able
to make. This is the same Pat Tillman who turned down
the NFL's millions to join the Army Rangers and "kick
ass" in Afghanistan. Clearly he was in the process of
questioning this.  Clearly he was coming to the
conclusions that most of the United States  - along
with the majority of soldiers, not to mention the
majority of Iraqis - that in the Middle East, the US
is not on a project of liberation but occupation.

The Tillmans are justifiably skeptical that the probe
will reveal anything new. As Patrick Sr. said, "I
think it's another step. But if you send investigators
to reinvestigate an investigation that was falsified
in the first place, what do you think you're going to
get?" He's right, of course, but the fact that the US
Army is launching this criminal probe only
demonstrates how effective the Tillmans have been in
challenging the Pentagon, while being armed with
nothing but their outrage. As Col. Joseph Curtin, an
Army spokesman at the Pentagon said, "We want to do
the right thing for the family. We owe it to the
family. We owe them the truth."  It's an amazing
admission. With over 2,300 US troops and tens of
thousands of Iraqis killed for a Presidential
administration's ambitions and lies, now one family is
at last owed "the truth." It's a start, I suppose.

Dave Zirin's the author of "What's My Name Fool?
Sports and Resistance in the United States". Check out
his revamped website edgeofsports.com. You can receive
his column Edge of Sports, every week by e-mailing
[email protected]. Contact him at
[email protected].