If you are looking for a feel good book, well, this isn’t it. In short, they lied. All of them. Top to bottom. And from what I can gather from Jon Krakauer’s book “Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman,” they are still lying. Lying has become a professional sport here in America. Our politicians do it on a minute-by-minute basis. Our celebrities, influencers, religious leaders and pretty much every one else lies endlessly to further whatever position they hold at the time. It’s normal now. Don’t like how things are going? Lie. Take drugs in sport to gain advantage? Lie. Lose an election? Lie. Get caught paying off a porn star? Lie. (My favorite lie of the past few weeks.)
Anyone who is a fan of American football knows Pat Tillman.
I worked in Phoenix back when Chuck Cecil was roaming the defensive backfield for the Arizona Cardinals, but soon after Cecil’s departure came a shortish, smallish, slowish defensive back named Pat Tillman. Tillman was an oddball, but in a kinda cool way. A thinker, a reader, someone swimming against the tide of normalcy, especially when it comes to NFL players who mostly go broke buying cars and houses while making it rain at the local strip club. (Totally worth the money, and by the way, I know some of the Phoenix strip clubs fairly well because I used to assist for a guy who spent EVERY SINGLE DAY having lunch in one or the other. True story.)
Tillman was never supposed to make it in the NFL but he did. But things took a turn for old Pat when the towers came crashing down in New York. He turned down a multimillion dollar NFL contract and instead joined the Army Rangers to do his part in the “War on Terror.” And this is where things started to go sideways. Tillman found the Army a challenge. Now, some of this might have been due to his status in civilian life, but some of it isn’t. Tillman could see through the holes of what the Army was providing, and also felt like many of those around him were ignorant children.
When the war in Iraq started, both Tillman and his brother Kevin, knew that Iraq was bullshit, a pipe dream fed to the American people by the Bush administration. Oil, money, politics, revenge, call it what you will, but a conquest of weapons of mass destruction, not even close. (All the major parties involved in this stupid decision, from Bush and Cheney, down the ranks of the people writing the fictional memos delivered to the American people, have all admitted Iraq was a huge mistake based on bad intel, but this doesn’t stop the pure crazy Trumpers from claiming otherwise.)
Long story short, Tillman dies in Afghanistan. I’m sure most of you are well aware of this story, and the fact he was killed by friendly fire. The cover-up was extensive. From Bush to Rumsfeld, McCrystal and more. These folks, especially the military types, are supposed to stand for honor, truth, and justice. The Rangers instill in their soldiers to “Always do the right thing.” Unless that story looks bad. And the Tillman story is bad from start to finish.
I’ve never been in the military. I can’t speak from first hand knowledge. The first version of this book was rife with errors. This is the updated, even sadder version. But based on the soldiers who were there that day, a lot of people were to blame. They know all the details. Tillman knew that he was being used as a pawn to sell the War on Terror, and he knew if he was killed his death could possibly be used as propaganda, and it was. I can’t say I enjoyed this book, but it’s good to know the details. Again, when it comes to trust in my country I find myself realizing more and more that we can’t really trust one another.
I’m about to buy another motorcycle and I know the dealer will try to rip me off. I know there will be hidden fees, bullshit price hikes and less than truthful negotiations. I know they will not stand by the product. They will not honor the warranty. This is par for the course, because the same exact thing happened when I bought the TW200. (My Himalayan has been great, and the dealer is far better.) My medical insurance does everything possible to avoid fulfilling my services. Gas pumps short buyers gasoline. The historical society plays favorites. Our police force is caught in less than savory situations again and again. Schools force Christian nonsense while claiming the woke world is encroaching on them.
This is what Tillman was fighting for? This is what our troops are fighting for today? Corruption and greed at the highest levels? Systematic stupidity? Racism, sexism, antisemitism? Are we fighting to take our country back to the Dark Ages? I fear the answers here people, I really do. There are a few takeaways here that I look forward to investigating. Lee Harris’s “Suicide of Reason.” Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” And Nietzsche’s concept of “Ubermensch,” which sounds particularly poignant.
Comments 17
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – Orwell
Author
It appears so. Lying is a profession here in America now.
I remember the Tillman saga, such a tragedy. Humanity has many flaws, often exemplified in the political sphere. But then, I still witness in daily life lovely acts of generosity and kindness. It’s just that they don’t make the news. As for Nietzsche, I’ve come across “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” a few times now so guess I need to finally read it.
Author
I need to read it was well. And yes, lying is now accepted. Across the board. Top to bottom.
I’ll keep this one on the list. I was furious with how easy it was to lie about the circumstances of his death. I think the leaders who ordered the lies knew they just needed the lie to hold up for a few months. We’re looking into the matter. The investigation is ongoing. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand an event in the fog of war. I bet the PR / press guys have 20 other stall and delay comments at the ready in a document.
With regard to Iraq, there were never any consequences for the war’s cheerleaders. They all ended up with even better, more powerful positions. The only people who paid any consequences were the people who called it out. Hey there, Dixie Chicks.
Author
It turns out that nearly everyone lies. And when you combine the willingness of individuals to lie, it becomes a system of lies that permeates our entire culture.
Jon Krakauer is one of the best writers/journalists of our time. Check out “Under the Banner of Heaven”. He also was an alum of my college (yay)
Author
Yep, another tough read.
9/11 happened while I was at Ft. Benning Georgia in week 7 (I think) of basic training. I also joined up a bit older (27), and as much as I tried to find some odd-ball corner in which the military as a career would sit right with me, I couldn’t find it. Four years and 10 months was enough for me.
I too was non-plussed by this tale and really enjoy Krakauer’s writing. “Under the Banner of Heaven.” is still my favorite of his.
Author
I hear ya. I was never in the military but I can see that being a challenge for certain folks, especially independent thinkers. Just like Sgt. Elias.
Sadly, not just a US problem. Take a look at the UK and Spain, if you enjoy blatant sleaze.
By the way, tried posting several times via my iPhone without luck, to the stage I imagined myself banned (I imagine a lot as I age…), so I hope it’s not paranoia, and that this new iPad works better than the ‘phone did.
Author
There are coverups surrounding us. It’s the norm now.
Sad news from the other side of the Atlantic. It’s the same here. If you look around European countries, lies, propaganda and big money are much more sexy for all politicians than actually taking care of the public. The public is only needed to pay taxes. I travel around the EMEA region and in my humble opinion western civilisation is on it’s last legs. We never learn from history books. All the empires of the past reached their peak and then fell apart, torn apart by internal struggles, we’re going down the same road and Asia is ‘pumping iron’ and preparing to take over.
Mat, the reasons or responsibilities for the western mess shouldn’t all be hung on the necks of politicians: much of the blame lies firmly on those who vote thinking only of the financial handouts they may win by doing so. We have generations of cradle-to-grave social parasites who have never worked a day in their life. These folks are not altogether stupid: they have mastered the minutia of weaving exotic paths through the legal framework that governs their means of paying the bills; politically slanted lawyers make comfortable livings out of representing them – at no personal cost: the State picks up the tag – in court when the need arises. The SNP government that ran the now-corrupted state of Scotland stayed in power through lies built upon idiotic trace memories of Hollywood movies such as Braveheart; support from parties such as the Greens, for whom almost nobody voted but were enough in number to align with the SNP to win for it working majorities, a party whose entire agenda was, strangely, not based on saving the planet, but on gay and rainbow warrior rights, perversion protection at all costs (males pretending to be females granted the chance of serving jail time in FEMALE prisons – can you imagine this? – and it was only after about 15 years of power and destruction of the Scottish nation and its infrastructure by these self-proclaimed patriots, that the population finally awoke from its sleep to throw almost the lot of them out of power. By the way, even the now-victorious Labour Party can’t produce a minister willing to define what a woman is. Pan, out of…
In the meantime, the ex-leader and her husband are under investigation for financial crime. What’s the bet that in a couple of years, the old faded folk history of a mediaeval Scotland will resurface and bring back these old political players? If that sad fate awaits this old land, blame not the politicians who are only doing what their tribe has always done, but the brain-dead people who donate their vote.
Author
Yes. I look at the legions of the clueless supporting a guy like Trump. And then annointing him a demigod. Well, it never worked out for any of the other demigods, so why are we thiking differently now? I know, STUPIDITY.
Compared to what I hear and experience abroad, I feel we’re doing quite fine in Denmark. Shhh, don’t tell anyone…
Author
Yes, and it’s not fair and I’m calling for an invasion. During summer. I want no part of Danish winter.