I AM ASHAMED OF THE U.S. ARMY

I saw a documentary movie last night that made me mad enough to spit nails. It was "The Tillman Story" about how the U.S. Army lied from day one about Pat Tillman's death.

The Army was deceitful and dishonest for months, and the movie ends with those blowhards Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush using Tillman's death for their own political ends.

Rumsfeld was in a Congressional hearing into the trail of lies, and he and the other big generals and other Defense Department bastards avoided cooperating and never had the guts to own up to their part in what was a terrible chapter in Army history.

I was ashamed for them. I never had any respect for Rumsfeld and Bush, but now I have lost all respect for the Army. What gutless wonders they were, to lie every step of the way and then stonewall the Tillman family.

What cowards. What they did was unforgivable. I hope no one in my family ever joins the U.S. Army. Why did the field officers on the scene order the soldiers not to tell Pat Tillman's brother Kevin, who was nearby, that Pat's own fellow soldiers killed him?

The filmmakers never talked to the guys who pulled the triggers. Presumably, they thought they were shooting Taliban fighters. But it isn't clear. And the one guy who was there, Russell Baer, never really explains what happened.

Was it daylight or dusk or night? I didn't get that straight.

Then unnamed officers ordered Baer and another guy, Bryan O'Neal, not to tell Pat Tillman's parents the truth. Why? What did they hope to gain? They disgraced the uniform and the flag, in my opinion.

It's unclear in the film, but apparently Tillman and the other man with him, O'Neal, were silhouetted against the sky. The Afghan soldier next to Pat was shot seven times. He was an ally. Jesus. And Pat was blown apart.

Why did the officers on the scene lie so quickly? Why did they burn his uniform and his diary? These Army officers acted like criminals. To me, they are criminals.

I wish the filmmakers had asked more questions of Russell Baer, who was actually there when it happened. And the congressmen let the military off the hook. More cowards. Sick, our government was sick, through and through.

I wish every new recruit and their families could see this film.

-- Roger

PS: I've been taking some time off. This blog is really time consuming. Sorry.

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/The_Tillman_Story/70129354?trkid=496624