If your stomach feels strong, go read what the sewer-minded Morlocks at Portland Indymedia are saying about the death of Pat Tillman: Dumb Jock Killed in Afghanistan. (Hat tip: Dar ul Harbarian.)

Were the Nazis heroes? Didn’t they also die for what they thought was right? Haven’t we all learned by now that *everyone* is doing what they think is right. The question is, what can be observed about their actions. Fighting in Iraq or in Afghanistan means you’re fighting for the wealth and power of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et al. We now have pipelines being built across both countries. Was that worth dying for? Does dying for pipelines make one a hero? Conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq are worse than before the invasions. In Afghanistan the Northern Alliance is (supposedly) in power, which is composed of some factions that make the Taliban’s record on human rights look near respectable. In Iraq soldiers are dying daily because the Iraqi people refuse to become an occupied nation, a US colony. That is not going to stop, ever. We’ve learned that lesson time and time again. Wherever you find colonialism, you will find resistance. History has taught that the resistance always wins except in cases of undeterred genocide (such as the genocide of the Native Americans).

To be honest I wish I could feel sorry for the guy, but the truth is I really feel nothing at all. To many have died and too much money has flowed into the pockets of Dick Cheney to even worry about it. Either people will wake up, or they’ll continue to waste their lives and the lives of others for the profits of a privileged few. How long will we have to wait for people to embrace a proper remembrance of all the lives that have been lost in the past years?