Interviews also show a side of Pat Tillman not widely known — a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author. ...An anti-Bush fan of Chomsky who believed the Iraq war was "so fucking illegal"?
[A] friend of Pat's even arranged a private meeting with Chomsky, the antiwar author, to take place after his return from Afghanistan -— a meeting prevented by his death. [Tillman's mother] said that although he supported the Afghan war, believing it justified by the Sept. 11 attacks, "Pat was very critical of the whole Iraq war." ...
Another soldier in the platoon, who asked not to be identified, said Pat urged him to vote for Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry.
Tillman subscribed to the Economist magazine, and a fellow soldier said Tillman created a makeshift base library of classic novels so his platoon mates would have literature to read in their down time. ...
I wonder what the mouthbreathers would say about Tillman if they knew that. ... Of course, they've probably forgot all about him by now.
4 comments:
Tillman was killed in Afghanistan
Oops. You're right.
He was initially sent to Iraq, but reassigned to Afghanistan.
A book came out recently about progressive people and moments in sports - the author had a couple of excerpts run on Common Dreams and elsewhere. I don't have his name or the book name at my fingertips, but I'll find it. This is exactly his kind of stuff - the quiet liberals or radicals in an arena always portrayed as conservative.
Great post, I'll check out the SFGate story.
And here's something else, a post of mine that links to an essay wondering why more athletes don't protest the war and the status quo. He mentions Pat Tillman.
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