I was just watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann. He was talking about the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. He made some very scary points. Medical investigators determined that the shots that killed Tillman likely came from just a few feet away from him (not the hundreds of feet, as the friendly-fire story said). This suggests that he may have been murdered. But there was also something else that Olbermann said. Tillman was a democrat. Tillman supported Kerry, and hated Bush. Tillman disapproved of the invasion and occupation of Iraq (he signed up for Afghanistan, not Iraq). Tillman, besides being a fan of Noam Cholmsky, was actually planning on meeting Cholmsky. And the night before he died, Tillman got in a verbal fight with another solider who was bowing on the ground, praying to God.
When the story of Tillman's death broke, I was very suspicious. I wasn't as suspicious about the circumstances of his death, as I was about the motives that Bush and the republican congress had in pushing the story. It had all of the hallmarks of propaganda. It was highly emotional, evoked feelings of 'patriotism,' and gave small-minded voters another excuse to remain obedient to Bush. Its emotionalism meant that it clouded the ability of people to reason, and thus ask questions such as what the actual circumstances were, and what Bush's purpose was in pushing the story.
It turns out we were right about Tillman. At the least, Bush lied about which side killed Tillman so he could turn the tragic death into a propaganda tool with which to hit democrats over the head with. Now it may turn out that the death wasn't even a case of accidental friendly fire.
Why is it that Bush is evoking 'executive privilege' in order to prevent congress from knowing the details surrounding Tillman's death? Could it have been a murder? Could it have even been a murder with origins above the foot soldiers in Afghanistan at that point? What secret does Bush care so much about, that he will pick another 'executive privilege' fight with democrats over?
Republicans have routinely called for the death of democrats. Take, for example, Ann Coulter's wish that John Edwards die in a terrorist attack. I have no doubt that if one of the soldiers in Afghanistan wasn't a 'loyal Bushie,' that some grunt might do something stupid. You also have to remember, that his death happened in early 2004. This was when right-wing obedience and hatred of all things not republican was approaching its height. We have seen what republicans will do. They will start wars, lie about wars, break laws, and then defend their side when it breaks the law.