Scanlyze

After Pat’s Birthday

Written by former US Army Ranger Spc. Kevin Tillman regarding what would have been his brother, fellow Ranger Cpl. Pat Tillman’s 30th birthday:

After Pat’s Birthday

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.

from After Pat’s Birthday: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

Kevin Tillman (wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Tillman

Pat Tillman (wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman

A Brother’s Rage
Kevin Tillman’s incandescent statement against the Iraq war reads like poetry, and is part of a tragic tradition.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403881/site/newsweek/

Copyright © 2007 Henry Edward Hardy

17 January, 2007 - Posted by scanlyze | Afghanistan, archives, Army, covert operations, Iraq, media, military, news, politics, protest, Rangers, sports, torture, war