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==Reactions to Tillman's death== ==Reactions to Tillman's death==
===Controversial criticisms===
After reports of Tillman's anti-war views became public, ] said that he was wrong to have assumed Tillman to be a "right wing poster child" when Tillman regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tedrall.com/2005_10_01_archive.html#112880323465427889 |title=Pat Tillman Redux |author=Ted Rall |date=October 8, 2005 |accessdate=2007-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Family demands the truth: new inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman's death
| accessdate = 2008-06-03 |date=2005-09-25
| author = Robert Collier | publisher=San Francisco Chronicle
| url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/25/MNGD7ETMNM1.DTL
}}</ref>

Lieutenant Colonel ], Regimental Executive Officer at Forward Operating Base Salerno on Khowst, Afghanistan under which Tillman was serving at the time of his death, and who led the second investigation into Tillman's death, has made controversial statements about the Tillman family’s search for the truth based on Tillman's apparent agnosticism. In comments to ], Kauzlarich said: "These people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs" and "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don’t believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing and now he is no more... I do not know how an atheist thinks, I can only imagine that would be pretty tough."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060728_worm_dirt/ |title=Playing the Atheism Card Against Pat Tillman’s Family |author=Stan Goff |date=July 28, 2006 |accessdate=2007-07-28}}</ref> Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich conducted the second investigation into Tillman's death which lasted a week, from May 8, 2004, to May 15, 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tillmantimeline |title=Pat Tillman Timeline |author=Mike Fish |date=Spring 2006 |accessdate=2007-07-31}}</ref> Brigadier General Rodney Johnson, the Commanding General of the United States Army Criminal Investigations Command, testified before Congress that he found these statements "totally unacceptable." Acting Department of Defense Inspector General Thomas Gimble also testified that he was "shocked" that Lt. Col. Kauzlarich would make these statements.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070517170253.pdf |format=PDF|title=Letter to General Ham |author=Henry Waxman and Tom Davis|date=May 16, 2007 |accessdate=2007-07-31}}</ref> According to AP analysis, Kauzlarich may be one of three lower level officers expected to be punished whose names have not yet been released by the military. Tillman's mother continues to reject the Pentagon's characterization of the officers' offenses as "errors" in reporting Tillman's death, because several officers have said they made conscious decisions not to tell the Tillman family that friendly fire was suspected.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-26-tillman_N.htm |title=Report: General faces demotion in Tillman case |author=Associated Press|date=July 26, 2007 |accessdate=2007-07-31}}</ref>

==See also== ==See also==


Revision as of 22:22, 19 November 2009

Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service2002–2004
RankCorporal
Unit2nd Ranger Battalion
Battles / wars2003 Invasion of Iraq
Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan (OEF-A)
AwardsSilver Star
Purple Heart

Template:NFLretired Patrick Daniel Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American football player who left his professional sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He joined the United States Army Rangers and served multiple tours in combat before he was killed by friendly fire in the mountains of Afghanistan. Details about the circumstances surrounding his death have been the subject of controversy and military investigations.

He is the second recently active professional football player to be killed in combat; the first was Bob Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills, who died in the Vietnam War in 1970.

Biography

Religious and political beliefs

According to speakers at his funeral, he was very well-read, having read a number of religious texts including the Bible, Qur’an and Book of Mormon as well as transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; his younger brother Rich stated that he "is not with God... He was not religious." Another article quotes him as having told then-general manager of the Seattle Seahawks Bob Ferguson in December 2003 that "you know I'm not religious".

The September 25, 2005, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that Tillman held views which were critical of the Iraq war. According to Tillman's mother, a friend of Tillman had arranged a meeting with author Noam Chomsky, a prominent critic of American foreign and military policy, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. Chomsky has confirmed this.

Reactions to Tillman's death

See also

References

  1. "True hero athlete". San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. "Fallen Ranger Tillman turned down NFL overtures for 2004 season". USA Today.
  3. "Pat Tillman, Our Hero". The Nation.

Books

  • Krakauer, Jon (2009). Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. Doubleday (September 15, 2009). ISBN 978-0385522267.
  • Tillman, Mary (2008). Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. Modern Times. ISBN 1594868808. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

Arizona Cardinals retired numbers

(*) number was unretired during J. J. Watt's time with the Cardinals

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