Remember

I wish I could give Mary Tillman a hug.

Mary Tillman is the mother of Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman was a pro football player who gave up the high life and went to war in Afghanistan. He enlisted in the Army Rangers after the 9/11 attacks. He was killed by Americans, Americans in the Army Rangers in a clear case of fratricide. Unfortunately the Army didn't get around telling Mary Tillman or her family about the fratricide until five weeks after his death.

Pat's brother Kevin was a few hundred yards away when their fellow Rangers opened fire on Pat and blew his head off. Now we know that a ranking officer told the man who witnessed Pat's death to not tell his brother. So began the cover up.

Pat Tillman was given a memorial service at a beautiful park in San Jose, not far from my house. One of the officers in attendance at the service knew he had been killed by his fellow Rangers but never said a frigging word to the family. We still don't know how far this cover up went in the ranks or in the Pentagon or in the White House.

But yesterday Mary and Kevin Tillman testified in Congress. They told the truth and questioned why they have been treated in a such an immoral fashion, with lies and obstacles placed in their way to the truth. How in the hell does the Army do FIVE investigations and still not yield the truth?

Well we know the answer. This is a rhetorical question at best but it is the heart of what this country has become. A country in the midst of a civil war in a country we have destroyed based on the lies of the president and his gang of bullies. Pat Tillman believed in his values, telling the truth, standing up for his country and doing the right thing. What his country did to honor him was to lie to his family.

That's why I want to give Mary Tillman a hug. Just to let her know I honor her son. I honor her family and I, too, just want the truth.

For more details on Pat Tillman read this story in Sports Illustrated. And send Mary Tillman a hug.