WMWG Part 15; My thoughts

Pat was deployed to Afghanistan to subdue the forces of Haqqani and to control Khost Province. Neither of these goals has yet to be achieved. The presence of Taliban forces in the province is stronger now than it has ever been, (stretching out throughout Pakistan). This district is known as the Haqqani Network, which has had close ties to al-Qaeda and Bin Laden since the Soviet-Afghan war. Since 2001 Afghanistan has only gone deeper into drugs and violence. The country controls 95% of the opium used in the heroin trade and the Taliban gets a large sum of that money. In 2008 it was discovered that even some of the ISI (Pakistan’s spy service) had been working alongside some of Haqqani’s suicide bombers. In 2009 McChrystal was nominated by President Obama to command U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It’s as if the law cannot touch him.

Back in 2000 Bin Laden predicted that he would lure the U.S. into Afghanistan to mire them in an unwinnable war; like what was done to the Soviets back in the 80’s. Bin Laden may not be alive today to see what is going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it does look like his predictions have become true.

I am going to try, to the best of my ability, to record my thoughts, reactions, and opinions of this book I have just finished. But for the moment, I am numb. This book was thoroughly fantastic. Jon Krakauer goes to extraordinary lengths to uncover the real truth and facts of anything he is researching and I am very grateful that someone is willing to do that. This book has made me smile, laugh, held me in suspense and even made me bawl my eyes out at times.

But now, I just feel numb as the reality of this situation settles on me. I have grown up being patriotic (Probably because this is the South) and have been looking into going into the Military to help pay for my medical schooling. It is honestly very hard for me to come to terms with all the lies and deceit that sprouted out of this one event. One event. How many other times could these lies have been spread about someone not as famous as Pat Tillman? My heart aches at the fact that the “Army does what suits the Army.”

“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own, despite - against our will - comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” –Aeschylus, Agamemnon

After reading this book and having this knowledge, I know I will continue to seek out the truth about what really goes on overseas. I may not support the war, or the lies and cover-ups done by the American government, but I still support each and ever single person that makes up the troops of our Military because I still plan to join, and I just hope that I am one of the lucky ones.

Because there is a big difference in support your government and its superiors, and supporting the actual troops.