Everyone has an opinion. Qualified opinions are harder to come by. Tillman losing his brother to friendly fire has no doubt tainted his view of the whole affair.

It's the small things in a person's writings that give away how much they know of things or how they came by their opinions.

Tillman's piece starts to fall apart with this one line:

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

This is the standard far-leftist refrain on Vietnam. It reveals massive ignorance of the circumstances and, at best, reveals a leftist soundbite education on the history of Indo-China and our involvement in picking up the pieces after the French begged us to assist their failed Indo-China holdings from communist aggression.

I read over two dozen of the responses and its more of the same. Partial knowledge of events leading to a totally distorted version of reality. It would be easy on me if I could just say they were liars, but they are not liars - they are merely poorly informed and very pliable to suggestion. It's very real to them that Bush is evil and that America is falling apart into a tyrannical land of torture. Just as Lindy's prison camps and railroad cars with shackles are very real to her.

Let me repeat this to make it clear - their views are very real to them, and therefore ARE their reality.

That's what's so dangerous about the left - they really believe their assertions. Religionists, too, are dangerous for the same reasons - they really believe in the hocus pocus and let this shape their reality. It makes no difference whether it is Allah, Jesus or the 7 foot tall Tau Cetians that are worshipped and obeyed, the bottomline is - for me - I recognize and take into account I now am dealing with someone who is no longer the master of their own mind.

The people killing each other in Iraq believe Allah praises their killing. Sure, they're totally delusional, but they really do believe it. You can't deal with folks like that rationally. Arguing with the leftists version of America is equally pointless. These people are contaminated. Folks have already played head games with them and exploited their willingness to believe.

Folks like having an enemy. It gives them escape from reality. It occupies them and their time, in lieu of analyzing their life self-critically. If believing tales told about shackles in train cars makes one feel victimized and oppressed, then it serves that subconscious desire for martyrdom and spurs feelings of individual pride and rebellion. If Iraqis embrace the US forces as 'enemies' when they have just liberated the nation from a mass-murdering tyrant - that's because, they too, need a new enemy so they can avoid taking the steps taken by rational folks - such as abandoning the hocus pocus, denomination hatred and moving on with a constructive, productive life.

Folks unhappy with their lives are more inclined to point the finger at others than is someone content. The content person will almost always take credit for his contentedness, but the malcontent almost never takes responsibility for his views and life.

Families with military casualties are constantly surrounded by folks who project their own interpretation of reality on them. Naturally, it's tough enough to deal with loss, and hard to resist the allure of a grand escape mechanism that can explain why a loved one now lies dead and provide some group to point your finger at. Many resist this alluring escape mechanism, but there are those who don't for some reason or another and succumb. This is especially true if they feel some measure of guilt or culpability. Then, the need for an escape is all the much greater and you have full blown Cindy Sheehan syndrome.

So Tillman's words mean little more spoken by him than by anyone else. His service to the country is appreciated but, as the left is so fond of pointing out, service does not make someone's political views more valid or credible - it merely demonstrates one's commitment to national service and displays patriotism towards ones nation.

In the end, it's just another leftist rant - low on facts, high on hatred and artificial reality.