H 36°, L 23° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 9°Last Friday, a unique individual’s passing was remembered quietly and without much fanfare. Gifted with intellect, fortitude and an insatiable appetite for all things athletic, he died at an age when most men are beginning to plan their life’s path. Selfless and courageous, he died in a mountainous region, millions of miles from home because of the actions of friends. His name? Pat Tillman.
Though eulogized by Sen. John McCain and publicly remembered by President Bush, the one-year anniversary of Tillman’s death has garnered little attention among media outlets. Though blessed with fame and fortune, Tillman has become just another soldier killed in the line of duty. How quickly we forget. How quickly he would have wanted us to forget.
Tillman, an Arizona Cardinal safety, had decided to quit football and join the Army Rangers after Sept. 11, 2001. While those who didn’t know Tillman personally thought he was absolutely insane, those who played with and coached Tillman weren’t surprised at all. As former Arizona head coach Dave McGinnis recalled, “Pat knew his purpose in life. He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling.”
Together with his brother, Kevin, a former minor-league baseball player in the Cleveland Indians organization, Tillman declined a three-year, $3.6 million to remain with the Arizona Cardinals and enlisted in May 2002. His base pay as a member of the Army Rangers? A whopping $1,800 per month.
An undersized linebacker in college, Tillman was maniacal on the field, his long blonde hair flapping behind him as he pursued player after player. During his junior year he led the Arizona State Sun Devils to a Rose Bowl appearance while earning Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in his final season of collegiate play.
While relentless on the field, Tillman was an equal presence in the classroom, earning a 3.84 grade-point average and graduating with a marketing degree in three and a half years. Never satisfied, he pursued a master’s degree in history and continually read to elementary school children in the Arizona area.
Drafted in the seventh round in the 1998 draft, the slow-of-foot and undersized Tillman was never expected to make an NFL roster. Yet he survived and managed to work his way from a special-teams role into the Cardinals’ starting safety position. His intensity and dedication to the game brought him to new heights when he broke the Cardinals’ record for tackles with 224 in 2000.
After the devastation of Sept. 11, athletes and the games they played continued on. Yet Tillman couldn’t. Blessed with the courage and selflessness of a select group of people, Tillman decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and volunteer for the Army Rangers.
A member of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Ranger Regiment, Tillman was involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001. April 22, 2004, Tillman and a group of Rangers and Afghan soldiers were fired upon by a group of soldiers late at night. Mistakenly, he was gunned down by “friendly-fire” and was the lone American killed during the gunfight.
Awarded with posthumous medals honoring his sacrifice and bravery, Tillman received recognition, praise and accolades days after his death. A year later, fleeting images of Tillman sternly posing for the cameras in his Ranger gear or screaming on a football field are all that is left. A man I thought truly invincible, dead at the age of 27.
While there are those on this campus who are anti-anything-military, their ability to protest and petition the government was not created solely by the carrot but by a stick that has sometimes been necessary and just. Regardless of your opinion regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pat Tillman was noble, brave and honorable for forgoing a life of luxury and voluntarily risking his life doing something he believed in. I can only hope I come across one Pat Tillman in my lifetime.
Josh Moskowitz ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.
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I got to disagree with you here. Tillman is no more of a hero than any other soldier that hasbeen murdered in this illegal war.
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I don’t think Tillman would appreciate being singled out the way that he is. He wanted to be just another soldier, and nobody is treating him like one. It is a shame that he died, just as it is a shame that we still have troops in the middle east for no reason. Bush is allowed to eulogize Tillman because he was a baseball player, but when ABC tried to eulogize all of our fallen soldiers Sinclair Broadcasting tried to block them and said they were being too “political.” Maybe if our senators and president took the time to publically remember all of our fallen heros the public would see how much of a debacle the whole thing has become. Protect our troops: bring them home.
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^ Tillman was actually a FOOTBALL player. War creates casualties. Tillman, like other soldiers who joined the military, were aware of this. Tillman believed in what we are fighting for. Since you obviously have no idea who Tillman is if you thought he played baseball, I am surprised that you know how Tillman would or wouldn’t want to be remembered. What I can tell you is that someone with enough patriotism and conviction in creating a better world who gives up millions of dollars to fight for his country, would not want to see those people back home constantly berating the very cause for which he was fighting.
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You idiot, the war in Afghanistan is far from illegal. Think what you want about Iraq (which isn’t technically illegal either), but for Christ’s sake even NATO participated in Afghanistan.
Yet another nutjob who lets his hatred get in the way of his brain.
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Illegal war? This is certainly collegiate. Memo to the fools: the US will make war whenever and wherever if it serves our interests. Such is the way of man.
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“I got to disagree with you here. Tillman is no more of a hero than any other soldier that hasbeen murdered in this illegal war. “
Write us a ticket for $45 and stfu..
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So what made this war illegal? The fact that the UN (who’s Secretary General’s son was receiving kickbacks from the very government we were trying to depose) didn’t approve? Well excuse me but where is the “world police” to arrest us? Where is the court system and under which country’s laws (not some half-assed approved world body’s bylaws) does this court operate? When did we as Americans, amend our Constitution that the UN not the American government elected by the people, was to make our foriegn policy? I can’t recall any of this. Face it the UN would have never approved of war with Iraq even if the vote was unanimous by every member of the body.
So as the last poster said if the war was “illegal” fine us already (oh wait you already have by the fact we even have the UN in the US should be fine enough)and STFU already. Otherwise send the world police (ie the US military) to come and get us. As for the “death toll” in Iraq here is an interesting statistic.
According to www.casualties.org there have been 88 hostile deaths caused by firearms in Iraq the rest have been due to accidents or explosives (ied) Considering in the last 22 months there are about 160,000 troops there that is 60 firearm deaths per 100,000 troops.
The rate in DC our nation’s capital is 80.6 firearm deaths per 100,000. In other words the likelihood of being shot and killed in our nation’s capital is higher than being shot and killed in the Capital of Iraq. And DC has some of the strictest gun control policies in the nation. Yet none of you Morons is advocating we pull out of DC are you.
Besides this America has been a democracy for over 200 years to my recollection we still have bombs going off here, murders, and high crime rates. So if we can’t stop such here what makes you think our soldiers are ever going to get the bomb and murder rate in Iraq to zero.
Besides this Tillman was killed in Afghanistan, not Iraq I know how much you hate Bush and the Republicans but you think you might be able to put down a “no blood for oil” protest sign and maybe pick up a GEOGRAPHY BOOK (or any other book for that matter) and actually put mommy and daddy’s and the people of Wisconsin’s money to use and LEARN something?
As for as Tillman being a “hero” who would you rather have your child imulate the hero Pat Tillman or the “hero” Dennis Rodman, Kobe Bryant, the steroid abusing baseball players, the “hero” Eminem or any other of societies dropouts, drug users, “celebrity” morons America’s public also calls a hero. If any of the above can receive the nom de clur of hero then surely Spc. Pat Tillman is deserving.
Hint to the author most Rangers make a hell of a lot more than $1,800 a month and it really is a piss poor attempt on your behalf to make it sound like these men are underpaid (they are but not to that extreme) for their efforts, Pat Tillman did NOT make 1,800 a month for BEING A RANGER, he made that amount for BEING A PFC in the ARMY. We are paid by rank not by job title so please don’t make it sound as if we are paid by the job we do instead of the rank we hold as evident by your article.
SSG Ronald Pritchett US Army [email protected]
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A well-kept secret about the U.S.-U.K. attack on Afghanistan is that it is clearly illegal. It violates international law and the express words of the United Nations Charter.
Despite repeated reference to the right of self-defense under Article 51, the Charter simply does not apply here. Article 51 gives a state the right to repel an attack that is ongoing or imminent as a temporary measure until the UN Security Council can take steps necessary for international peace and security. The Security Council has already passed two resolutions condemning the Sept. 11 attacks and announcing a host of measures aimed at combating terrorism. These include measures for the legal suppression of terrorism and its financing, and for co-operation between states in security, intelligence, criminal investigations and proceedings relating to terrorism. The Security Council has set up a committee to monitor progress on the measures in the resolution and has given all states 90 days to report back to it. Neither resolution can remotely be said to authorize the use of military force. True, both, in their preambles, abstractly “affirm” the inherent right of self-defense, but they do so “in accordance with the Charter.” They do not say military action against Afghanistan would be within the right of self-defense Nor could they. That’s because the right of unilateral self-defense does not include the right to retaliate once an attack has stopped. The right of self-defense in international law is like the right of self-defense in our own law: It allows you to defend yourself when the law is not around, but it does not allow you to take the law into your own hands.
Since the United States and Britain have undertaken this attack without the explicit authorization of the Security Council, those who die from it will be victims of a crime against humanity, just like the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Even the Security Council is only permitted to authorize the use of force where “necessary to maintain and restore international peace and security.” Now it must be clear to everyone that the military attack on Afghanistan has nothing to do with preventing terrorism. This attack will be far more likely to provoke terrorism. Even the Bush administration concedes that the real war against terrorism is long term, a combination of improved security, intelligence and a rethinking of U.S. foreign alliances. Critics of the Bush approach have argued that any effective fight against terrorism would have to involve a re-evaluation of the way Washington conducts its affairs in the world. For example, the way it has promoted violence for short-term gain, as in Afghanistan when it supported the Taliban a decade ago, in Iraq when it supported Saddam Hussein against Iran, and Iran before that when it supported the Shah.
The attack on Afghanistan is about vengeance and about showing how tough the Americans are. It is being done on the backs of people who have far less control over their government than even the poor souls who died on Sept. 11. It will inevitably result in many deaths of civilians, both from the bombing and from the disruption of aid in a country where millions are already at risk. The 37,000 rations dropped on Sunday were pure PR, and so are the claims of “surgical” strikes and the denials of civilian casualties. We’ve seen them before, in Kosovo for example, followed by lame excuses for the “accidents” that killed innocents.
For all that has been said about how things have changed since Sept. 11, one thing that has not changed is U.S. disregard for international law. Its decade-long bombing campaign against Iraq and its 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia were both illegal. The U.S. does not even recognize the jurisdiction of the World Court. It withdrew from it in 1986 when the court condemned Washington for attacking Nicaragua, mining its harbors and funding the contras. In that case, the court rejected U.S. claims that it was acting under Article 51 in defense of Nicaragua’s neighbors. For its part, Canada cannot duck complicity in this lawlessness by relying on the “solidarity” clause of the NATO treaty, because that clause is made expressly subordinate to the UN Charter.
But, you might ask, does legality matter in a case like this? You bet it does. Without the law, there is no limit to international violence but the power, ruthlessness and cunning of the perpetrators. Without the international legality of the UN system, the people of the world are sidelined in matters of our most vital interests. We are all at risk from what happens next. We must insist that Washington make the case for the necessity, rationality and proportionality of this attack in the light of day before the real international community. The bombing of Afghanistan is the legal and moral equivalent of what was done to the Americans on Sept. 11. We may come to remember that day, not for its human tragedy, but for the beginning of a headlong plunge into a violent, lawless world.
Michael Mandel, professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, specializes in international criminal law.
http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/mandelillegal.htm
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wow I was actually thinking the above was written by UW student until I saw the tag line at the bottom. On second thought I should have known better no UW student could write a piece as eloquent as this no matter how WRONG the story is.
Great that we have International law, who the hell enforces it may I ask?? (Oh that would be the US and it’s military). Under who’s interpretation of law does it operate. The UN’s funny I don’t remember we as Americans being allowed to elect the Judges on this world court, nor the “police force” that enforces the laws. Nor do I recall us turning over the US legal system to a world body.
More bad news for the antiwar group. Iraq now has a government two years after the war. Funny it was 10 YEARS after our Revolution (for those of you who take UW history) before we had a government. I also remember folks (those in Britain and those loyal to them) calling our first government illegal, secular, led by nitwits and revolutionaries, and a puppet government as well.
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“International Law” is a misnomer - it does not exist as enforceable domestic laws.
Remembe when Bush tried to enforce international law as set down by the UN in Iraq?
Bet you weren’t for following international law then, were you sport?
I bet a law degree from your school and $1 will get you a cup of coffee in the real world.
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Michael Mandel is an idiot.
In September 2001, al-Qaeda was a de facto military organization operating with the support and consent of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. They committed an act of war against the United States. The invasion of Afghanistan was a necessary and completely legal response, and was so recognized by both NATO and the UN.
Idiots like Mandel and those assholes here who claim that invading Afghanistan was illegal give REAL liberals like me a bad name. Remember, dumbasses, liberalism means you want equal rights and opportunities for everyone. It doesn’t mean that violence is never acceptable — real liberals know it’s necessary sometimes.
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“Al Quaeda” as an organization has never existed. It is a name made up by a CIA informant that owed Bin Laden thoudsands of dollars and he made this story up in turn for immunity in the US. The US needed an organization to prosecute Bin Laden under the organized crime act and this guy told them whatever they wanted to hear.
Action in Afghanistan was illegal. Plain and simple. The US should not (though it can) invade whatever country it pleases for whatver reason it pleases. If you beleive that this should be the case then you are the one supporting the terrorists. Byt that logic the terrorists also had every right to attack us for whatever reason they want. AFter all if you can attack someone, (under your reasoning) it is legal.
No, I will stick to laws… and whatever I might think about getting Bin Laden personally, the US shouldn’t be going around the world doing vigilante justice. We need to stick to the laws and rules of the world. Otherwise, we are in a might makes right situation and that will just end up in a whole lot of dead civilians both here and abroad.
Besides for all the claims of vigilante justice and Afghanistan being a legitimate war… WHERE IS OSAMA????
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Soldiers are not noble heros. They are enablers of the slaughter of women and children. I support them as American citizens, but not as soldiers. Supporting soldiers is like saying that you support our cruise missiles. They are just a tool that the uber-rich slaughter to make more money for themselves and their cronies.
I’ll support citizens that want to fight in the army as much as I support the freedom of any American protestors, firefighters, atheists, reigious zealots. No more and no less.
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Above poster about vigilante justice, is it your premise that if a country has a ruthless dictator that promotes genocide the rest of the world should just sit back idly and hope that the people of that country handles its own business?
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“They are enablers of the slaughter of women and children.”
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Chuck him out, the brute!'' But it'sSaviour of ‘is country,” when the guns begin to shoot;
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Lmfao. You totally miss the point of this. The point is that anyone who would go fight is a sucker. Hey, go get killed for a retarded cause when I don’t give a shit about you. It’s your life.
Soldiers are just plain dumb. Stupid fucks. I feel bad for them like I feel bad for cows lining up to go in the slaughter house.
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Last Thursday, the Senate agreed to an amendment (mentioned on the blog) to change the Emergency Supplemental to provide an additional $213 million in funding to produce armored Humvees. Here’s how the vote broke down:
YEAs —-61 Akaka (D-HI) Alexander (R-TN) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN) DeWine (R-OH) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Hutchison (R-TX) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Santorum (R-PA) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Talent (R-MO) Thune (R-SD) Wyden (D-OR) NAYs —-39 Allard (R-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Inhofe (R-OK) Inouye (D-HI) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thomas (R-WY) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-V
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ast Thursday, the Senate agreed to an amendment (mentioned on the blog) to change the Emergency Supplemental to provide an additional $213 million in funding to produce armored Humvees. Here’s how the vote broke down:
YEAs —-61 Akaka (D-HI) Alexander (R-TN) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN) DeWine (R-OH) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Hutchison (R-TX) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Santorum (R-PA) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Talent (R-MO) Thune (R-SD) Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs —-39 Allard (R-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Inhofe (R-OK) Inouye (D-HI) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thomas (R-WY) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-V
But its the liberals that are the traitorous scumbags.
You hypocritical fuckers when will you learn that Republicans always have and always will be the party of lying cheating stealing and big business screwing over everyone that makes less than 500K a year?
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Yep soldiers are stupid, about as much as the average college student who knows so much about “the world” cause professor so and so who was there 40 years ago said it was that way. As opposed to the soldier who is out “in the world” and knows more about what is going on than they do. I would rather listen to a soldier’s world view than the world view of some Harvard educated Journalism major give his “view” on the nightly news. However who will get the sound bite. No more stupid than the average college student actually thinking someone outside the campus actually gives a rat’s ass about their “protest cause of the week” that they are so “passionate” about because some history professor has said it is this way.
Like cows being led to a slaughter huh? No more ignorant than those sitting in the lecture hall taking “professor so and so’s” word as literal gospel because they are too stupid or naive to actually have an actual thought in their head but had rather parrot those who teach them. 50,000 dollars spent on what amounts to an “education” that might land em a job at burger king. Yeah who is the stupid one now. Funny what resembles cattle led to a slaughter (or robots more) soldiers fighting for something they believe in or a college student carrying the same protest sign as everyone else, tattooed and pierced cause “all their friends are doing it” all yelling the same infantile protest slogan (hell no we won’t go, hey hey end the war today etc) all to the beat of a drum as they march by those who could care less about their cause, too stupid to realize that nobody does care, while blindly following the liberal professor leading the protest. Talk about cows to a slaughter.
SSG Ronald Pritchett [email protected]
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Maybe only veterans should be able to vote or hold office.