Topic awaiting preservation: Remember the Patriot thread, involving Pat Tilman? (Page 1 of 1)

He has been killed in Action - Pat Tillman

An excerpt

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KABUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. football star Pat Tillman, who gave up a $3.6 million sports contract to join the military, was killed in a sustained firefight involving 15-20 insurgents in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

As details emerged of the bloody ambush involving the 27-year-old former professional football player, an Afghan official said nine Taliban guerrillas were killed by Tillman's elite Army Ranger unit in the Thursday evening clash.

"They were ambushed. They dismounted. They moved toward the ambush, the firefight ensued and that is when specialist Tillman was killed," U.S. Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Beevers told reporters.

Tillman's unit was hunting al Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas in near the eastern city of Khost along the Pakistan border. Beevers said there had been a pick-up in hit-and-run attacks on soft targets by suspected Taliban south of Khost in Kandahar province.

Tillman, who quit his National Football League career in May of 2002, eight months after the September 11 attacks on America, was the most prominent American public figure killed in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan... Reuters

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A salute. A man, that followed his convictions, and supported his country, has passed away.

(Edited by WebShaman on 04-24-2004 04:43)

No, I don't. And, well, the man did what he believed it, and some say he should be honoured for that, and maybe he should, but I in the end don't agree with war for any purpose, and so I find it a little hard ot honour those who perpetrate it.

Justice 4 Pat Richard

Its sad but this shouldn't also distract from the hundreds of other soldiers who are also laying down their lives in this War Against Terror who just happened to not have had 15 minutes of fame before being shipped out but who are all worthy of being kept in our thoughts.

Clearly while it appears acceptable to show pictures of a woman dying in the back of a car on US TV it isn't OK to show pictures of the long lines of flag-covered coffins being shipped home.

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Skaarjj: I suspect the difference (which I know a lot of people in the UK seem to miss) is that you can support our troops out their and mourn their sad demise even if you don't actually support the war ( as soon as we actually sent troops in Iraq support for the war went up here because we support our troops but supporting the war and the troops needn't be linked).

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A salute. A man, that followed his convictions, and supported his country, has passed away.

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Absolutely. And focusing on him should in no way diminish the sacrifices of *all* of our soldiers in this effort.

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Clearly while it appears acceptable to show pictures of a woman dying in the back of a car on US TV it isn't OK to show pictures of the long lines of flag-covered coffins being shipped home.

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Ratings and politics I'm afraid And I agree with you that if one is acceptable show, then so should the other be.

After the Vietnam war, many Americans refused to make a distinction between supporting soldiers and the job they had to do. They were despised and ridiculed when they returned from the war. I think that is still fresh enough in the American experience that support for the troops is way high regardless of the support of the war itself.


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And I agree with you that if one is acceptable show, then so should the other be.

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Actually, I disagree totally.

One is a gory graphic image of a woman in the process of dying. That is totally gruesome and vile to show in such a manner.

The other is a line of closed caskets covered in flags returning home. It is, at the most, a sobering image displaying a part of the results of our current actions. There is no gore or glory, just caskets. I can't see any harm or offense in showing such an image.

As for the football player? I can, in a way, commend his choice for going after what he beleived in rather than the easy (and financially secure) path.

But I can't give him any more credit than the average guy over there risking his life, or value his life more than someone else's simply because of his fleeting celebrity....

And to add to the sad story - it appears he was killed by his own side:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0529tillman29.html

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