Pat-tillman Since it's Earth Day and I'm driving my 12-year-old car up the New Jersey Turnpike to Newark this afternoon, I thought it would be a good idea to recycle some old stories here.

Today is the sixth anniversary of the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player who left two multi-million dollar contracts (maybe $10 million worth) because simply playing football wasn't enough. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, Tillman enlisted to become an Army Ranger where he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was in Afghanistan where Tillman was killed in a horrible mix-up by another U.S. soldier.

Since his death, Jon Krakauer wrote a book about Tillman's life and notables such as Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated described his death, non-traditional views, zeal for life and the cover-up of all of it by the government.

Note: I'm not sure if all the links below remain active since it's been three years since they were first posted, but if there is a little more insight that can come from it, that's good.

So with that here's this:

Remember His Name

March 24, 2007
In a shameless news dump late Friday evening with the aim at burying a story about a cover up, it was revealed that nine officers, including four generals, were responsible for mistakes in the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman and the way it was handled and disclosed. Tillman, as most know, left the Arizona Cardinals and a multi-million dollar contract to enlist in the U.S. Army shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. As an Army Ranger, Tillman served in Iraq where he was part of the invasion in 2003. Later, Tillman was sent to Afghanistan where he was killed by friendly fire in April of 2004. His death became a national controversy after the Pentagon covered up the real circumstances of his death to, as critics allege, out of a desire to protect their image and tamp down Tillman's anti-war views and other ideologies. So since the story was revealed so late on a Friday so that it would be hidden beneath the avalanche of coverage over Britney's bald head and the very latest up-to-date information regarding Anna Nicole Smith, we'll post a bunch of links to stories on Tillman, including his brother Kevin's essay written last November.

Remember His Name II

March 28, 2007
The death of Pat Tillman and the cover up and lies they gave is enough to drive one insane. It is such a travesty and miscarriage of justice that insanity is the only way to describe it. Heartbreaking, too. It's insane and heartbreaking. As Gary Smith wrote in Sports Illustrated, “…that's a man who lived a life as pure and died a death as muddy as any man ever to walk this rock…”

The mystery of the cover up of Tillman’s death is trying to figure out what they were afraid of. What was it about Tillman that made them burn his clothing, his diary and then lie to his family and the public? Was it that he couldn’t be labeled, ghettoized or slipped into a neat marketing package? Was it because he was intelligent? Was he a threat? What was it?

Tillman’s mother, Mary, appeared on ESPN radio with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann yesterday where she spoke candidly about the the latest story about what occurred to her son and she is seeking a Congressional hearing. Listen here and here. Meanwhile, here is a Google news search of all of the latest published stories regarding the Tillman case.

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