Culture of Life Lies, Volume IV (Pat Tillman Edition)

Am I my brother's keeper?

Well, for the culturrralaaf GOP, apparently not if your brother disagrees with your policies.

First, we learned that a U.S. Attorney in Seattle, John McKay, was fired by the Bush/Cheney/Gonzales Justice Department for pushing for more resources to investigate a murder of an assistant U.S. Attorney, Tom Wales. (apparently, McKay had to push for resources and investigation from his superiors because, for obvious reasons, the Seattle U.S.A. Office was recused from the investigation).

Why, you ask, would the DOJ not want to avenge the murder of one of its own? Well, according to a Seattle prosecutor commenting at TPM, it turns out that:

Tom Wales was extremely active in attempting to get tighter gun control laws passed here in Washington.

I bring this up in light of yesterday's revelation that NFL Player - cum - enlistee - cum - combat victim Pat Tillman may not have merely been felled by friendly fire, but by intentional "friendly fire" (aka: MURDER).

It turns out that Tillman's killer plugged three shots from his M-16 into Tillman's forehead at basically point-blank range, execution-style. A doctor who examined Tillman's body concluded that "The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described [in the official military cover-story]"

What's more, apparently there was no evidence of any hostile enemy activity at all in the area where Tillman was killed. So what was the possible rationale for Tillman's killer to be locked and loaded at that moment in time in the first place?

Yet, just as with U.S. Attorney Wales, requests for investigations into this murder were rebuffed:

The documents show that a doctor who autopsied Tillman's body was suspicious of the three gunshot wounds to the forehead. The doctor said he took the unusual step of calling the Army's Human Resources Command and was rebuffed. He then asked an official at the Army's Criminal Investigation Division if the CID would consider opening a criminal case.
"He said he talked to his higher headquarters and they had said no," the doctor testified.

In fact, according to the AP story:

Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.

Is there a common thread between the Bush Administration's refusal to investigate Wales' murder and their (at best) failure to investigate, or (at worst) intentional cover-up of the question of whether Tillman was murdered?

Well, consider this, from a 2005 San Francisco Chronicle article:

Interviews also show a side of Pat Tillman not widely known — a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author.

The phrase "through the looking glass" gets thrown around alot. But my God, it seems like every week (sometimes several times a week) a new revelation confirms, or at least strongly supports, allegations/concerns/fears that were previously dismissed as "tin-foil hat", "lunatic fringe" etc.

How morally bankrupt can an Administration be to calously disregard the murder of people who'd sworn themselves to defend the Constitution, the Laws of the Land, and the Safety of this country (things the Administration was supposed to be defending as well) just because the murder victims disagreed with the Administration's politics?

Maybe Sara Taylor didn't misspeak, and the do really take an "oath to defend George Bush".