I think our will to fight for justice has been diminished in our generation. I am not exactly sure why. If Americans did not get worked up over the Pat Tillman cover-up then, barring some major catastrophe, the corporate war mongers will win the day. kzs
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September 14, 2009
The latest book from Jon Krakauer, author ofInto Thin Air and Into The Wild, focuses on the life and tragic death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, who left a lucrative contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. Army Rangers.
Krakauer talks to NPR's Melissa Block about his investigation into Tillman's death by friendly fire — and the Army's subsequent effort to cover up the circumstances of that death.
A Spray Of Bullets
At least half the members of a platoon traveling through Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, had never been in a firefight before. But on this day, the enemy attacked. In response, the American soldiers sprayed thousands of rounds from their machine guns, M4s and grenade launchers.
Not far away was Tillman, accompanied by another American soldier and an Afghan militia fighter, who had been firing his weapon at the opposite canyon wall, where he suspected enemy fighters could be. When, from a distance, the leader of one of the U.S. platoon's Humvees saw the Afghan militia fighter, he reacted.
"He testified that the [Afghan] guy had on an American uniform, but in the panic of the moment, he reflexively put the guy in the sights of his M4 and put seven rounds into his chest," Krakauer says. The shots by the leader of Humvee were followed by a spray of bullets from the rest of his men. It was an attack that ended in Tillman's death.
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