McChrystal's Pat Tillman Connection
By Dave Zirin
When NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman died at
the hands of US troops in a case of "friendly fire,"
the spin
machine at the Pentagon went into overdrive.
Rumsfeld and company
couldn't have their most high- profile soldier dying in such an inelegant
fashion, especially with the release of those pesky photos from Abu
Ghraib hitting the airwaves.
So an obscene lie was told to Tillman's
family, his friends and the American public.
The chicken-hawks in charge,
whose only exposure to war was watching John Wayne movies, claimed that
he died charging a hill and was cut down by the radical Islamic enemies
of freedom.
In the weeks preceding his death, Tillman was beginning to
question what exactly he was fighting for, telling friends that he
believed the war in Iraq was " [expletive] illegal."
He may not
have known what he was fighting for, but it's now clear what he died for:
public relations.
Today, after five years, six investigations and two
Congressional hearings, questions still linger about how Tillman died and
why it was covered up.
Now the man who greased the chain of command that
orchestrated this great deception is prepared to assume total control of
US operations in Afghanistan: Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
It was
McChrystal who approved Tillman's posthumous Silver Star, a medal given
explicitly for combat, even though he later testified that he
"suspected" friendly fire.
Yet despite this, both Democrats and Republicans are rushing to heap praise on McChrystal, including Sen. John McCain. ..
more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090525/zirin2
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