There is no doubt about the bravery of Pat Tillman or his idealism in resigning from a lucrative career in the National Football League after 9-11 to, as he perceived the situation, protect America and fight the terrorists responsible for this spectacular, deadly attack on American soil. However, soldiers all through history have exhibited great courage in combat, although often fighting for mistaken, spurious reasons or even against their own best interests. I know there were many German soldiers in World War 2 who were fervent believers in fascism and willingly sacrificed themselves for an ideology which cost tens of millions of lives, lead to the death camps and devastated the continent of Europe. The same could be said of Japan's kamikaze pilots. Their sacrifice was exceedingly brave, but was their emperor really that close to God. The German and Japanese media certainly attempted to make heroes of these men. There were many true believers among the Protestants and Catholics who fought one another in the bloody Thirty Years War and exterminated about sixty percent of the population of northern Europe. Naturally, the kings and nobles had their own economic and political interests in these religious wars. Are all these people heroes simply because they were courageous in battle or possessed an ardent belief in their mission or ideology?

Pat Tillman obviously didn't realize that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were planned long before 9-11 occurred and both were intimately connected to US control of oil reserves, rather than to any so-called war on terrorism. He was probably oblivious to the fact that terrorism has been used before in history as an excuse for wars of aggression, perpetrated for other reasons. Hitler used the excuses of communist terrorism and terrorism against Germans for his annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Ronald Reagan had his own war against terrorism in Central America in order to defeat socialist revolutions there, which were a threat to the capitalist system. Our own American revolutionaries were considered to be terrorists by the British. Using fear as a means of manipulation and control is nothing new.

Therefore, Pat Tillman was not defending the American people, as he imagined, but by participating in a war against the innocent people of Afghanistan and Iraq was actually increasing the anger and resentment towards the United States and raising the probability of another terrorist attack on the US mainland, rather than diminishing such a probability. He may just as well have worn the company logos of Chevron-Texaco and Exxon-Mobil on his uniform as the US flag because this is who he really was fighting for, as well as the weapons manufacturers and companies like Halliburton and Bechtel. 9-11 was the fear-inspiring event that George W. Bush cynically utilized to pursue his real agenda of corporate domination and profiteering.

In my opinion, the real heroes are people like Ron Kovic, Stan Goff and other veterans who have taken the time and effort to discover the truth about recent wars and the nature of imperialism. They are willing to oppose US interventions in other countries and suffer the ridicule and disapprobation of American society for challenging some of its most cherished myths-myths like the continuous glorification of war and the supposition that American troops always fight for noble goals like freedom and democracy. They also attempt to educate military personnel and that is essential in stopping this scourge of war. People are heroes for fighting against the real ills afflicting humanity like slavery, racism, oppression and injustice, not for fighting for myths created by a ruling class intent on wars for their own benefit. That is simply a wasted life.

The glaring hypocrisy of the US corporate media in its hero worship is easily illustrated by the Spanish Civil War. American soldiers, such as those in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, fought fascism in Spain and the troops and modern weapons of Hitler and Mussolini years before World War 2 started. They exhibited extraordinary courage in fighting tanks and airplanes with small arms and outdated artillery. Were these brave American soldiers of the "greatest American generation" called heroes in the US corporate media? No, they were either ignored or labeled "premature antifascists." Some were even hounded by the FBI for years after World War 2 and lost job after job for being leftists. Every American knows about the heroes of the Normandy landing on D-day, but ask an average American if they have ever heard of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Obviously, the criteria for who is deemed worthy of being depicted as a hero by the US corporate media is determined purely on economic and political motivations and not on actual courage or sacrifice, as the corporate media so pompously pretend.

I knew the instant I learned that Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan that the corporate media were going to make a propaganda extravaganza out of his death, lasting days, if not weeks. After all, MSNBC calls every American soldier killed in Iraq a "hero" and has a whole wall dedicated to them with photos of the deceased soldiers. From time to time the hosts relate little stories about these soldiers lives to their audience. No mention is given to poisonous effects of the US military's use of depleted uranium on the health of other potential "heroes." Little emphasis is placed on Iraqi casualties or the great suffering and misery of the Iraqi people. Neither the Pentagon nor the corporate media keep an accounting of the Iraqi dead and wounded. Of course, the insinuation here is that only American lives matter and the Iraqis are subhuman, much as Goebbels depicted the Jews and Slavs.

It has been my perception from watching war after war involving the United States that the corporate media always attempt to glorify each and every war and build public support for it, no matter how ridiculous the justifications for the war or how illegal, immoral and destructive the war happens to be. That glorification is probably the greatest evil perpetrated by the US corporate media and very dangerous to humanity's survival in an age of nuclear weapons. However, it is understandable, when one considers many of these media corporations are owned by weapons manufacturers.

The real purpose of all the schmaltz being broadcast about Tillman is to make high school kids believe that they have some kind of moral obligation to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and get their legs blown off or to kill peasants in order to protect the profits of Hallibuton and the oil companies.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings, which thinks that nothing is worth war, is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing, which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than him." -- John Stewart Mill (1806-1873)

never heard of him.

No foreign nation threatened Britain in any way during Mill's adult life. His apology for war is nothing but an apology for conquest and the growth of the British Empire - the purpose of which was to rob colonial peoples all over the world. Sort of like Bushy Boy is doing now.

it's a commentary concerning people just like yourself. You have done nothing to secure your own freedom. It was a given to you by men who ensured it by fighting for it. Men, i would wager, with more in common with pat tillman than meyer london.

freedom was won by dissent against an over reaching arrogance by individuals who weren't afraid to stand and be counted, not by blind obedience to the royalty often in the face of violent opposition by fellow countrymen with limited view and positions of convenience.
You're typing about freedumb.

by "individuals" i assume your referring to the continental army which defeated the royalist as well as the british army in a prolonged war?

Say, duh, why don't you establish a pen pal relationship with William Calley. He owns a jewelry shop in Atlanta now. You two can discuss the glories of military service - fighting for freedom.

And they were defending their home land againts an arrogant royal class of imperialist. And since you're going to throw in WW2 I may add that the hidden history of this conflict had it's origens in American capital by the likes of the Bush and Rockefeller families who financed Hilter.

i wouldn't want to continue this line of discussion if i were you either. Your disengagement was a little weak though. Similar to the strand of pasta where your back-bone should be.

never said a thing about ww2.

'i wouldn't want to continue this line of discussion if i were you either. Your disengagement was a little weak though. Similar to the strand of pasta where your back-bone should be.'

I couldn't have said it better. Thank you for self destructing your own post.

Yeah, the people who had enough backbone to send Tilden to his death have done a great job of establishing "freedom" in Afghanistan - freedom for heroin exporters and the thugs of the Northern Alliance. They've done a great job here at home, too - the Patriot Act and the illegal detention of foreigners and US citizes have set back civil liberties several decades.

and my comments concerning ww2?

I wanted to head off the drivel you were going to produce about our brave fighting force...
Worked well, I believe.

i never put anything forward concerning anything in your last post. I happen to believe tillman was a patriot. His death is tragic but not a waste.

Give each of the cheetos boys a rifle and parachute them into the center of either city. The Iraqis will be so terrified that they will run like sheep and the problem will be solved.

or we could leave the fate of the nation in the hands of an old man, a computer, and a messageboard. No really it might just work. Do you really think you could meyer?

Nope, not at all. I wish I had some authority over at the home, though - I would cut your computer time way down so that you could attend more therapy sessions. I guess this is the Bush Administration's idea of how to treat troubled souls - let them play with the internet all day, posting racist, sexist, homophobic and militarist messages. Have fun.

Waste? That is a load of crap.

Guys like Tillman are why you have the ability to write stuff like this. While he might be a pawn in the decisions made in Washington, do not diminish his efforts or more importantly, his existance. He is a better man than you. I sleep easy tonight because of guys like him.

And don't worry about some heroin addict who became addicted on cheap snow exported by the Northern Alliance (put into power by pawns like Tillman) and who is now planning to rob your house and murder you. We all have to go sometime - just ask Tillman.

"He is a better man than you."

Unsubstantiated Allegation
For more on logic at your level, try reading "Logic for Dummies."

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
    Pro patria mori.

it is sweet and noble to die for one's country