We in the West regard the Fall of the Berlin Wall as the synecdochal end of an era: a death knell for the ill-conceived dream of collectivization, and a stake in the cold black heart of the Soviet Union.
My mother had a friend in the 80s and 90s from West Germany. I remember about a year after the fall of the wall, this friend saying that West Germans were joking/not joking that they wanted to rebuild the wall and make it twice as high, so frustrated they were with all the problems being encountered early on in the reintegration.
I don't at all doubt that if West Germany could cover up the true circumstances of a death, then the United States has done so on an even greater scale. Proof of this can be found in the botched attempt to present the death of football star turned soldier Patrick Tillman as caused by enemy fire, only to later have to disclose that it was an accidental death by friendly fire.
And this episode did a horrible disservice to all injured or killed by friendly fire. Being in a war zone is inherently dangerous. One of my friends from high school lost a leg in Gulf War 1 in a friendly fire accident. His sacrifice for his country needs to be honored, not shamed by the implication that hostile fire is somehow a greater badge of honor. (He was visited at Walter Reed by Barbara Bush, pictures of which he just recently posted to FB.)
Finally, regardless of what actually transpired, the readiness of people to creatively promulgate the "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" meme is proof that few consider our own authorities incapable of covering up the true circumstances of a death that might serve to benefit those in power.
People are dumb and afraid. They choose to believe this type of story happens under glass.
My mother had a friend in the 80s and 90s from West Germany. I remember about a year after the fall of the wall, this friend saying that West Germans were joking/not joking that they wanted to rebuild the wall and make it twice as high, so frustrated they were with all the problems being encountered early on in the reintegration.
I don't at all doubt that if West Germany could cover up the true circumstances of a death, then the United States has done so on an even greater scale. Proof of this can be found in the botched attempt to present the death of football star turned soldier Patrick Tillman as caused by enemy fire, only to later have to disclose that it was an accidental death by friendly fire.
And this episode did a horrible disservice to all injured or killed by friendly fire. Being in a war zone is inherently dangerous. One of my friends from high school lost a leg in Gulf War 1 in a friendly fire accident. His sacrifice for his country needs to be honored, not shamed by the implication that hostile fire is somehow a greater badge of honor. (He was visited at Walter Reed by Barbara Bush, pictures of which he just recently posted to FB.)
Finally, regardless of what actually transpired, the readiness of people to creatively promulgate the "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" meme is proof that few consider our own authorities incapable of covering up the true circumstances of a death that might serve to benefit those in power.