Afghanistan: suicide by Dutch army sergeant

Afghanistan war, cartoon

From Dutch site nieuws.nl:

A Dutch sergeant in Uruzgan [in Afghanistan] has killed himself.

On Wednesday morning, he was found by colleagues in the Dutch camp in Tarin Kowt. …

The sergeant was found in his army vehicle and probably shot himself with his own army gun.

NATO kills civilians in Afghanistan: here.

Afghanistan: death of American football player Pat Tillman.

Afghan civilians killed by NATO: here.

Dutch demonstration against sending troops to Afghanistan: here.

5 thoughts on “Afghanistan: suicide by Dutch army sergeant”

Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:04 pm (PST)
Pat Tillman’s brother blasts Iraq war!

10.21.2006

The Associated Press

PHOENIX – The brother of an NFL player who was killed in
Afghanistan after quitting the team to join the U.S. Army
Rangers has spoken out. Kevin Tillman, a former Army
Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with his older
brother, Pat Tillman, has remained silent since his brother’s
death in 2004.

But this week, he wrote a scathing indictment of the war in
Iraq, the Bush administration and American apathy.
“Somehow, the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate
the illegal invasion becomes,” Kevin wrote on Truthdig.com,
which purchased his work. The brothers, both Arizona State
University graduates, joined the Army in response to the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They served together as
Rangers with the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Pat Tillman, who played defensive back for the Arizona
Cardinals, was killed by friendly fire near the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border in April 2004. The Defense
Department is investigating allegations of a cover-up,
including failure by the U.S. Army to tell Tillman’s family for
several weeks that he had been killed by gunfire from his
fellow Army Rangers, not by enemy fire as they initially were
told.

Kevin Tillman has not spoken publicly about the war or his
brother’s death since his discharge from the Army. But in
Truthdig.com, Kevin wrote openly about the war and
America’s response to it. “Somehow, the same incompetent,
narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in
charge of this country. Somehow, this is tolerated.
Somehow, nobody is accountable for this.” After playing for
the ASU Sun Devils, Pat Tillman was drafted by the Arizona
Cardinals in 1998. He played with the team for four years.
On Sept. 12, 2001, he gave an interview in which he talked
about how “stupid” football seemed relative to world events.
“At times like this, you stop and think about not only how
good we have it but what kind of system we live under,” he
said. “My great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor. And a lot of
my family has gone and fought in wars. And I really haven’t
done a … thing as far as laying myself on the line like that.”
Pat was on the verge of signing another contract with the
Cardinals in the spring of 2002 when he decided to join the
Army instead. The Tillmans were initially sent to Iraq as part
of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003, the brothers returned
to the U.S. for training to become Army Rangers.