Review of The Tillman Story (2010) by Jess K — 28 Apr 2011

A powerful, infuriating illustration of the concentrated effort made by unspecified but high ranking members of the Bush administration to create a saintly beacon of heroism, a willing martyr, a propagandist tool.

Perhaps no scene better illustrates this than John McCain delivering the standard feel good eternal life eulogy followed by Richard Tillman's speech describing his brother as "fucking dead." The myopia of the administration's effort to sell their war, from the banning of coffin pictures to the "rescue" of Jessica Lynch, becomes disgustingly clear in the cover-up of Tillman's fratricide.

Tillman the myth was constructed because atheists and skeptics obviously can't be heroes, while Tillman the man was an intelligent, joyous, curious, dedicated iconoclast who openly questioned the legality of the Iraq War while active in it.

A man more than worthy of admiration. A hero on his own. Perhaps one day Rumsfeld will be held to the same standards of integrity as Pat himself.