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REMEMBER THE ICONOCLAST, NOTTHE ICON
Pat Tillman 1976 – 2004
February 15
th
2008Guy Montag, feralfirefighter.blogspot.com 
Pat and Kevin Tillman --just before Iraq War, March 2003
 
Patrick Tillman, Sr. – Memorial Service, May 2004
 
REMEMBER THE ICONOCLAST, NOT THE ICON
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PDF Page #:REMEMBER THE ICONOCLAST, NOT THE ICON 1REMEMBER HIS NAME: 2
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Remember His NameGary Smith, Sports Illustrated 9-11-06 3
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Code of Honor Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated 5-03-0420
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True Hero AthleteGwen Knapp, S.F. Chronicle 5-04-0428
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 Notes on Pat Tillman Guy Montag 5-07-0631
FAMILY DEMANDS THE TRUTH:36
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Family Demands the TruthRobert Collier, S.F. Chronicle 9-25-0537
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Briefing Was ‘Unsatisfactory’Tillman Family, truthdig.com 3-26-0746
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Pat Tillm a n’s Father: Memo Proves CoverupMat Fish, espn.com 3-30-0750
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After Pat’s BirthdayKevin Tillman, truthdig.com 10-19-0652
BOOTS ON THE GROUND BY DUSK: 55
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Boots on the Ground by Dusk Mary Tillman, Modern Times 4-29-0856
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The Fog of FameStan Goff, counterpunch.com 8-09-0758
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An Un-American TragedyMat Fish, espn.com 7-20-0689
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The Tillman FilesStan Goff, fromthewilderness.com 4-05-0694
 
REMEMBER THE ICONOCLAST, NOT THE ICON
Four years ago, I believed Pat Tillman was a patriotic “dumb jock”. I refusedto watch any of the flag waving coverage of his memorial service. It seemedlike a sideshow distraction to the Abu Gharib story.But the reality of Pat was much deeper than his iconic image.
 
In October2005, I read David Zirin’s article, “Our Hero.” I discovered
a side of Pat Tillmannot widely known –a fiercely independent thinker, avid reader (a favorite author was NoamChomsky), and critic of the Bush administration and the Iraq war (“…this war is so fuckingillegal”).
Pat was a remarkable man who was driven by a core of honesty andintegrity, led by personal example, and lived his life intenselyI was angered that the truth about Pat’s life and death had been buried bythe media and government. Tillman was enshrined as an icon while the manfell by the wayside, his parents used as props at his funeral. Pat’s family stilldon’t have the meager consolation of knowing the truth about his death.“The truth may be painful, but it’s the truth,” his mother said. “If you feelyou’re being lied to, you can never put it to rest.”Let us honor Pat Tillman’s memory by honoring the man, not the myth. Theiconoclast, not the icon. As his mother said, “Pat would have wanted to beremembered as an individual, not as a stock figure or political prop. Pat wasa real hero, not what they used him as.”Pat Tillman, never at a loss for words himself, is now silent. Of the manytragic aspects surrounding his death, one is that he cannot define his ownlegacy. Now, it’s up to his family and friends to reclaim the truth andintegrity of Pat’s life and death.I’ve taken the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death a bit personally. Like StanGoff, I feel a sense of kinship with Pat Tillman. In 1983, when I was “youngand dumb,” I enlisted with an Airborne Ranger Long-Range Recon Patrol(LRRP) company. I grew up in the Army, enjoyed the camaraderie and thechallenges. But, the lies of the first Gulf War were the last straw. Aftereight years, I finally left the Army in March 1991, and have spent the last 17years as a firefighter.
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P.S.
Gary Smith’s article, “Remember His Name.” is the single bestintroduction to the Pat Tillman story. If you want to dig deeper, searchespn.com. Within the E-Ticket: “Un-American Tragedy” series you can findvideo, audio, interviews, army reports, etc.Finally, Mary Tillman’s memoir, “Boots on the Ground By Dusk: The Life andDeath of Pat Tillman,” will be released April 29, 2008.
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ahooka

Bush... Cheney... You will pay for treason when all is said and done!

reply07 / 01 / 2010
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