Noam Chomsky remarks on the death of Pat Tillman

Pat Tillman was a professional football player with the Arizona Cardinals.

In response to the September 11, 2001 incident, he passed up a $3.6 million contract and joined the Army. His sacrifice became made him a symbol of patriotism and a poster child for Army recruiters.

Pat Tillman came to his senses and turned against the wars. Through friends and family, he made contact with anti-war icon Noam Chomsky.

Perhaps Tillman was ready to make a public statement of opposition to the wars, which would have been a public relations catastrophe for the Army. We will never know. Perhaps the Army knew he was going to go public with a statement of opposition. We will never know.

Pat Tillman took three bullets through the head on April 22, 2004. He was shot at close range by his own men while on paatrol in Afghanistan.

A massive coverup followed, in which the public was told that Tillman had been killed by hostile fire. He was awarded the Silver star. The conspiracy to deceive Tillman’s grieving family and the public went to the highest levels of the Army, and centered on one Lt. General Stanley McChrystal.

Eventually, the fraud was exposed, and a half-hearted congressional investigation followed.

Pat Tillman is still dead. His mother, Mary Tillman, still grieves. Lt. General Stanley McChrystal was promoted to supreme commander of the Afghan theater.