The truth about Pat Tillman's death

Of the many lies George W. Bush told us about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some were larger but none worse than that told about the death of Pat Tillman. In 2004–just after Bush's invasion of Iraq which was justified by those non-existent weapons of mass destruction–Tillman became a military-and media-manufactured symbol of duty, sacrifice, patriotism and heroism. But the truth about Tillman's life was much more complex, and his death ultimately far more heroic, than the convenient, self-serving lie served up by the military and then sent out by the ever-gullible U.S. media. Tillman, a truly remarkable young man who walked away from a multi-million-dollar contract as a professional football player to enlist in the Army Rangers after the 9/11 attacks, is the subject of "The Tillman Story," a moving documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev that opens in theatres in New York and Los Angeles this week. Although the film rightly tells the story of Pat Tillman's remarkable life, it also focuses on a parallel "Tillman story," that of the struggle his family went through to learn the truth about Tillman's death from "friendly fire" and the ongoing cover-up of how and why U.S. military and political leaders lied in order to exploit his heroism for propaganda purposes.