“It's an atrocity that they would take a young man with honorable intentions who’d served his country and then lie about how he died to promote a war. To use him as a propaganda tool - that is immoral.” Mary Tillman
War is hard to talk about or maybe, it is, that it’s a hard concept to get around. Either way, it’s difficult to develop a response to it. Last week I looked at some of the films that have stood strong in a very open and public backlash against the war on terror. And, the filmmakers say - retaliation through violence is not the answer because the cost to humanity is too great.
Fratricide or friendly fire deaths has always been a part of warfare and though the numbers are low for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a handful of high profile cases have become central to extensive investigation and intense media scrutiny. Army officials, defense departments and even government have come under fire – and caught out, in what can only be called cover-ups gone terribly wrong.
“It's an atrocity that they would take a young man with honorable intentions who’d served his country and then lie about how he died to promote a war. To use him as a propaganda tool - that is immoral.” Mary Tillman
War is hard to talk about or maybe, it is, that it’s a hard concept to get around. Either way, it’s difficult to develop a response to it. Last week I looked at some of the films that have stood strong in a very open and public backlash against the war on terror. And, the filmmakers say - retaliation through violence is not the answer because the cost to humanity is too great.
Fratricide or friendly fire deaths has always been a part of warfare and though the numbers are low for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a handful of high profile cases have become central to extensive investigation and intense media scrutiny. Army officials, defense departments and even government have come under fire – and caught out, in what can only be called cover-ups gone terribly wrong.
In June 2004, Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and Lt. Andre Tyson died in what was said an enemy ambush - the findings of an investigation saw the men were targeted and killed by international troops they were training. Another story in the media, named the Operation Medusa incident – saw the deaths of four Canadian soldiers on 3 September 2006, Canadian military reported at the time that the soldiers died in battle with the Taliban - in fact the men were killed by friendly fire at the hands of US forces. Even though ample evidence has been given, to this day no statement as to what really happened has been made. Several WikiLeaks reports were released relating to the incident but were rejected by military.
Perhaps the biggest cover-up of all is the story of Pat Tillman. The cover-up that filmmaker, Amir Bav-Lev gets to the bottom of in his documentary The Tillman Story that screens tonight on Rialto Channel. The patriotic football star that gave up his highflying professional career in the NRL and enlisted with the Army Rangers.
Tillman died in April 2004 in Khost Province, Afghanistan. The US military stated Tillman was shot by Taliban forces and sold a false version of him and his death to the media. With little said about the suspicion of fratricide, in May 2004 a nation mourned the ‘heroic’ act of the high profile sportsman and he was awarded both a Silver Star and a Purple Heart - medals that added meaning to his sacrifice. But, things didn’t appear to add up for the Tillman family so they sought an accurate account of his death – their struggle has been well documented in the book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer. In the aftermath, it was alleged that members of his Ranger platoon shot him. On 26 March 2007, the Defense Department released a final report concluding that Tillman had in fact been killed by friendly fire.
You will make up your own mind after watching The Tillman Story as to what you think may have happened. The exact circumstances are still unknown. For me - at worst the story seems a hit job and at best, a mistake that can only be blamed on inaccuracy. The film, driven by Tillman’s mother, Mary, doesn’t hold back on slamming myths about war. She says, it is almost as if a meaningless death needed to be made ‘meaningful’ and heroic and all of those things. And, as one journalist puts it, filmmaker Bar-Lev captures the worst agendas of our leaders and best instincts of our people.
In the years that have followed, WikiLeaks has released hundreds of thousands of classified documents that would reveal details about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq - that have described numerous accounts of brutality, corruption and extortion of forces from all sides of each camp. WikiLeaks has redefined the tradition of whistle blowing. With the assurance of anonymity, WikiLeaks hope more people will contribute to a database of millions of documents - it has created the opportunity for those who witness injustices to share that information with the public. Co-founder, Julian Assange has said he will continue to release documents he thinks show evidence of war crimes.
Last month, the world was witness to the horrific slain of 10 journalists and two officers at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris. The gunman, two Islamic terrorists identified themselves as belonging to Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen. Following a lockdown on the city, the men were gunned down 48 hours later. Several days after, more than 40 world leaders came together in Paris for a rally of national unity and nearly five million people joined in demonstrations across the country. But, if the fight doesn’t stop with the shootings of the culprits and if the war doesn’t end at bin Laden’s death - when does it?
10/03/201504:10pm
21/03/201501:10pm