Conservative: He remains a hero.
By: Matthew Handy, Conservative Columnist
A U.S. House committee announced last Tuesday that it would hold hearings concerning misleading information associated with the friendly fire death of an Army Ranger.
Pat Tillman, a former NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals, was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan three years ago; initial reports, however, claimed that Tillman was killed by enemy forces. These initial reports claimed that Tillman died attempting to rescue a fellow Ranger.
Reports today declare that a number of high-ranking officials were actually aware of the circumstances surrounding Tillman’s death weeks before his family was given the accurate information. The committee has said that multiple members of the Tillman family will testify in an attempt to ensure that those responsible for the misleading information will be held accountable.
Tillman’s death became a major news story early on because he had walked away from a huge NFL contract in order to join the Army shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11.
I want to make something clear: the fact that the real information surrounding the death of Pat Tillman was covered up and replaced with a completely fictional account is utterly disgusting. I cannot stress enough how important it is that justice be served in this situation. Those who participated in the coverup of this sensitive information must be held accountable; there is no excuse for the purposeful act of misleading a deceased person’s family.
There is, however, an underlying matter within this situation that needs to be discussed. This story, which was initially fabricated by government officials and the media, is a perfect example of the damaging effect that expanded media coverage during wartime can have on our nation’s primary objectives.
Media coverage today exists within nearly every parameter of society. This, of course, includes the various elements of wartime. Today, media coverage both at home and inside war zones concerning our various military actions is extremely prevalent.
Unfortunately, this situation causes a number of problems for our men and women in uniform. The increased media coverage within the war zones and the constantly scrutinizing domestic media are basically roadblocks for our military’s success in these dangerous regions. Our military is forced to fight under a microscope; this, unfortunately, greatly increases the difficulty of achieving any measure of success.
Supporters of this increased level of media coverage during wartime argue that it is important and completely necessary that the actions of our military be held in check; the media, these supporters claim, is the only thing that can hold members of our armed forces and government accountable. Members of the media say they believe that it is their sole responsibility to report and prevent war crimes by members of our armed forces. These people cite instances such as Guantanamo Bay and the current situation concerning Tillman as evidence that their intense coverage of our military’s actions actually do force our military to consistently act within the international rules of war.
Unfortunately, these media personalities fail to address one important question: how can one nation’s military remain within the rules of war consistently when the nation they are at war against never adheres to those rules?
In a “civilized war,” it is not hard to imagine both sides adhering to the rules of war; however, our nation’s recent conflicts do not seem to fit within this idealistic category. Our soldiers are constantly at odds with enemies that choose to participate in acts such as torture and guerrilla warfare. More often than not, our enemies are not even defined by any visible uniform; our soldiers must constantly be on the watch for suicide bombers dressed as civilians.
So how can our military successfully accomplish their objectives when they are forced to face such an uncivilized enemy? We must remember the sacrifices our nation was willing to make during WWII in order to defeat such an uncivilized enemy; these citizens, now considered to be “the greatest generation,” did whatever they had to in order to defeat an enemy that was completely unwilling to adhere to the rules of war.
Unfortunately, our soldiers today do not have this luxury. Intense media coverage forces our troops to use an incredibly inconvenient amount of caution in every military action they take. Some might argue that members of our armed forces must be both soldiers and lawyers on the battlefield; they are currently expected to adhere to the all rules of war, no matter how much of a disadvantage it places on them.
The media’s intense scrutiny of the Pat Tillman scandal actually works to cloud the actual issue. The media initially allowed itself to be used by ranking officials to promote a false story. Media outlets praised the dramatic heroism of Tillman without actually knowing the true facts of the situation; weeks later, that story resulted in shame and embarrassment for all those involved in the initial story.
We should remember Pat Tillman not for the way he died, but for the way he served his country as one single soldier. For that reason, he remains a hero.
Last update: 2007-05-09