An ex-football player’s death raises questions.
By: Hank Kalet
I am troubled by the death of former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman in Afghanistan.
On the one hand, Tillman did something few of those who pushed for a military response in Afghanistan and later, in Iraq were willing to do: He signed up and put himself on the front lines, forsaking millions in salary.
For that reason and that reason alone, he should be viewed as a hero.
But the response, as this response on the Common Dreams News Center, shows how the death of a football hero can be misused and turned into propaganda. I’m not sure that I agree completely with all of what Randy Shaw is saying here I found it a bit simplistic and a too dismissive of Tillman’s very real commitment to his beliefs.
But one cannot argue the jingoistic tone of the coverage.
Tillman’s death also raises another question: Whatever happened to Afghanistan? There is still significant fighting taking place there though you wouldn’t necessarily know that from reading the news. And our successes there have been eroding, with the Taliban regaining strength and the country in disarray.