It's a Pass

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship
--The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet, George Bernard Shaw

Murder most foul, as in the best it is, But this most foul, strange, and unnatural
--Hamlet, Shakespeare

Well, it's time once again to blow smoke up our asses and tell us it's sunshine.

The latest installment in the Pat Tillman saga (of course, since he's no longer here, I guess it's someone else's saga now) has the U.S. military sounding every bit as decisive as a United Nations Secretary-General.

The AP reports Army officials as saying, "officers...should be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman." The investigation "will cite a range of errors and inappropriate conduct as the military probed the former football star's death on the battlefront in 2004" ("Officers Blamed for Tillman Case Errors.") I know I'm comforted, how 'bout you?

"(T)he report will not make charges or suggest punishments, but it will recommend the Army look at holding the nine officers accountable [for the procedural errors that caused the fratricide to be reported as death by conventional ambush.]"

What a huge smokescreen. This standard administration cover-up completely misses the point.

Forget the cover-up. The question is: why has nobody been punished for this death, which is negligent homicide at best, and murder at worst.

The Army has administered seven slaps of the wrist in the case, "ranging from written reprimands to expulsion from the Rangers. One had his pay reduced and was effectively forced out of the Army."

Pat Tillman deserves justice. It is the Ranger way.