[R-G] Fw: Pat Tillman, Enter the MAS, Iraq's Guernica

[Ed Pearl]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ed Pearl 
To: Ed Pearl 
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 6:02 AM
Subject: Pat Tillman, Enter the MAS, Iraq's Guernica



Thanks to Michael Schwartz, Rad-Green and Juan Cole for these  -Ed

A FINE ARTICLE ON PAT TILLMAN'S DEATH, CAPTURING 
BOTH THE HYPOCRISY AND THE TRAGEDY:

Edge of Sports
May 27, 2005

'Killing Their Own Poster Boy': Why Pat Tillman's
Parents Are No Longer Silent

By Dave Zirin

To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain't got
no name But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in
their game. - Bob Dylan

When former Arizona Cardinals football player turned
Army Ranger Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan, sonorous
bugles moaned from coast to coast. We were told he died
a 'warrior's death' charging up a hill and urging on
his fellow Rangers. His funeral was a nationally
televised political extravaganza with Senator John
McCain among others delivering eulogies over his open
grave. Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth was one of many
singing Tillman's praises. 'He chose action rather than
words. He lived the American dream, and he fought to
preserve the American dream and our way of life.' His
Commander in Chief George W. Bush even took time during
last fall's Presidential campaign to address Cardinals
fans on the Jumbotron at Sun Devil Stadium.

At the time, I wrote a small column stating that
Tillman - who refused 'hundreds if not thousands' of
offers by the Pentagon to shill publicly for the 'War
on Terror'- would be repulsed by all the attention. I
wrote that to Bush, McCain, and their pro-war ilk,
Tillman was proving far more useful dead than alive. He
had joined the Rangers for ideals like freedom and
justice, but fought in a war for oil and empire. I
wrote that the final injustice was that in death, even
more than in life, he was little more than a 'pawn in
their game.'

This observation didn't click with the pro-
war/occupation camp, as hate mail and death threats
flooded my inbox. People claimed that the Masters of
War were celebrating his heroism, not exploiting his
death - and by not simply standing and saluting, I
deserved a similar fate.

I want to know how the hate mongers and internet thugs
feel now, knowing that they were duped about the real
circumstances of Tillman's death.  Yes, once again the
American people discover they have been lied to.  Lied
to by the same people who told us that there were
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Saddam
Hussein was responsible for 9-11, and that the US
occupation was 'liberating" the people of Iraq by
bombing their country to pieces and stealing their oil.

I can also only wonder if those so protective of Pat
Tillman's memory will exhibit a fraction of the bravery
being shown by Pat's parents Patrick and Mary. The
divorced couple has decided to go public with their
fury at a government that profaned the body of their
dead son

Patrick and Mary now know that Pat did not die at the
hands of the Taliban while charging up a hill, but was
shot by his own troops in an instance of what they call
'fratricide.' Patrick and Mary now know that Tillman's
men realized they had gunned him down 'within moments.'
They know that the soldiers - in an effort to cover up
the killing of the All American 'poster boy' - burned
Tillman's uniform and body armor.

They know that over the next 10 days, top-ranking Army
officials, including the all too appropriately titled
'theater commander,' Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, hid the
truth of Tillman's death, while Pentagon script writers
conjured a Hollywood ending. They know that the army
waited until weeks after the nationally televised
memorial service to even clue them in about
'irregularities' surrounding their son's death. They
know that the concurrent eruption of the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal may have played a role in the cover-up,
as the army attempted to avoid a double public
relations disaster.

'After it happened, all the people in positions of
authority went out of their way to script this,'
Patrick Tillman said earlier this week to the
Washington Post. '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.'

Mary Tillman, like her ex-husband and son, a fiercely
private person, spoke with a frankness that should put
dissembling military planners to shame. 'It makes you
feel like you're losing your mind in a way,' she said.
'You imagine things. When you don't know the truth,
certain details can be blown out of proportion. The
truth may be painful, but it's the truth. You start to
contrive all these scenarios that could have taken
place because they just kept lying. If you feel you're
being lied to, you can never put it to rest.'

Now the Tillmans, consciously or not, are lending their
voice to a growing chorus of military family members
determined to speak out against this war. New
organizations, like Gold Star Mothers for Peace and
Military Families Speak Out, are made up of people
handling their grief by refusing to be political props
and instead making a country bear witness to their
pain.

'Every day is sort of emotional,' Mary Tillman said.
'It just keeps slapping me in the face. To find that he
was killed in this debacle -- everything that could
have gone wrong did -- it's so much harder to take. We
should not have been subjected to all of this. This lie
was to cover their image. I think there's a lot more
yet that we don't even know, or they wouldn't still be
covering their tails. If this is what happens when
someone high profile dies, I can only imagine what
happens with everyone else.'

It is exactly for 'everyone else' dying throughout the
Middle East, that we must follow the Tillmans example
and regard silence as a luxury we can no longer afford.
__

Dave Zirin's new book 'What's My Name Fool? Sports and
Resistance in the United States' will be in stores in
June 2005. Check out his revamped website
edgeofsports.com. You can receive his column Edge of
Sports, every week by e-mailing edgeofsports-
subscribe at zirin.com. Contact him at
whatsmynamefool2005 at yahoo.com. 

***

from www.narconews.com
Bolivia: Enter the MAS

By Jean Friedsky,

Posted on Thu Jun 2nd, 2005 at 07:32:38 PM EST



The MAS (the Movement Towards Socialism party) is going back to its

roots. The have finally remembered that they are the party of the

people - that their strength lies in the streets, despite the fact

that they also have access to the Congressional floor.  Fed up with

the stall tactics of the traditional rightist parties in the

government (despite last night's announcement, no session was held

today because they can't reach an agreement to place the

Constitutional Assembly on the table), Evo and MAS have called for

nationwide road blocks and for new elections.  Until now, the MAS has

been soft: their marches have cruised along the Prado without

venturing up the hill to put pressure on the Plaza Murillo, Evo has

spoken in vague language, with euphemisms and was refusing to call for

anything that would rock the boat.  This "politician-esque" posture

brought on torrent of criticism towards Evo from Bolivia's social

movements.  But today, everything could have changed. The MAS decision

to convert its constituency into a force that challenges the operation

of the country and the authority of the current government could be

the catalyst we've been waiting for. The numbers and breadth of the

MAS will now accompany the fierceness of the Altiplano campesinos, the

relentlessness of El Alto, and the complementing pressure from

striking teachers, transit workers, and health care professionals

within La Paz.  And this combination is a force unlike anything I have

ever witnessed.

 

Let us not however, forget the risks of placing hope in the actions of

a political party. The MAS has an agenda that is, unfortunately, not

simply to advance the desires of its constituency.  Their goal is to

increase their own governmental power and to do what they deem

necessary make Evo the next president. As such, should there be a firm

agreement tomorrow in the Congress on the Constitutional Assembly, MAS

would back down, leaving the rest of this (dare I say) burgeoning

movement coalition out in the cold.  Hopefully, the other groups would

persist regardless, but the division that could be created by such a

shift could be irreparable.

 

Three hours ago, I wasn't sure if I would have anything to report more

today other than the continuation of political bull-shitting in

Congress and the images of empty streets and market stalls created by

the transportation workers strike and blossoming blockades...and now,

it looks like a whole other chapter is just beginning.  Such is life

here on the streets of La Paz...

 

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***

Juan Cole writes:

Fallujah Film

The Italian magazine Diario has posted to its web site a film of Fallujah made by Iraqis (apparently by Iraqi government workers sent in to help with clean-up) in early January of 2005, at a time when the international press was excluded from the city.

Note that the links to the video are in the photograph of the truck. The possible playing options are given as follows:

56k RP (Real Player)
56 k WMP (Windows Media Player)
ADSL RP (fast cable connection)
ADSL WMP
Mp3 

The video shows a good deal of the damage to the city (2/3s of buildings damaged) and has some graphic shots of the dead. At one point the health worker excavate a shallow grave with a body bag. They look inside and say "Atfal"-- "children." Someone had had to bury them hastily.