Author: TSO

Update: Looks like yes there was a massacre, and while I should have been more clear before, the part I was calling bullshit on was US involvement, and it appears I was correct. Still watching the movie, so not even sure what the allegations against the US are, except what is stated in this dopey preview thing.

Update x2: Easier video to watch can be found here.

I call bullshit on the whole thing. But calling bullshit and proving bullshit are different genus of the same species. So, little help here if someone knows someone that might have been in the AO.

Afghan Massacre
The Convoy of Death
UK: Five, Germany: ARD, Italy: RAI, Australia: SBS, Canada: CBS

‘AFGHAN MASSACRE – the convoy of DEATH’ tells of the horrific forced journey undertaken by thousands of prisoners who surrendered to America’s Afghan allies after the siege of Konduz.

Bundled into containers, the lucky ones were shot within minutes. The rest suffered an appalling road trip lasting up to four days, clawing at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and even drank blood from open wounds.

Up to 3,000 now lie buried in a mass grave, but this was NOT a simple matter of Afghans killing Afghans.

‘AFGHAN MASSACRE – the convoy of DEATH’ tells of how American special forces took control of the operation, re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors were shot and buried.

And it details how the Pentagon lied to the world in order to cover up its role in the greatest atrocity of the entire Afghan War. This is the documentary they did not want you to see.

‘AFGHAN MASSACRE – the convoy of DEATH’ was produced over ten months in extremely dangerous circumstances: eyewitnesses were threatened, the film crew went into hiding and our researcher was savagely beaten to within an inch of his life.

You can watch the video at the link here.

After the jump, a Captain responds to the allegations.
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VoteVets exists for one purpose, and one purpose only, to defend everything Obama does. When they came up with that jackass policy of charging veterans for their service-connected ailments (by charging to insurance policies that have deductibles etc) Vote Vets was alone in thinking this was a good idea. I literally haven’t seen another group or politician that looked at that asshattery and thought that is was a damned fine plan. Just Vote Vets. Now, mind you that when Obama [VoteVets]-canned the idea, Brandon did an about face, and it was suddenly an “inappropriate” idea.

So, it came as no surprise today that I found one of the recommended diaries is by a guy named Rick Duncan, a wounded Marine Captain who served in Iraq. Now, I salute his service, as we all do, but this guy has been on my radar for quite a while for his deft (?) acrobatics on issues. For starters, it should come as no surprise that in addition to being a VoteVets guy, he’s also a member of IVAW. I find it ironic that right after Kokesh is crowing about how IVAW doesn’t support Obama, I find an IVAW guy more than willing to back Obama at any opportunity, but that is neither here nor there.
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A little comment diving here, figured I would see what y’all are up to this weekend. I was going to do an article about the House at Poop Corner, but I will wait on that one for monday when their’s a bit more traffic I think.

Stephen Lynch is playing at the Warner Theater here in DC, and I was debating heading over to that. I was even thinking of asking our new friend LTC Tadd Sholtis from the Air Force PAO office to join me, but from the tone of his post, I suspect he doesn’t like us much. Which is actually a shame, because I respect and support the work all the PAOs do.

Anyway, some Stephen Lynch for you on a Friday afternoon. If you don’t know Stephen Lynch, then this video comes with a kinda large NSFW for bad lyrics. So, shut your office door you deadbeats.

Good idea? Asshattery?

We report, you decide.

Consider this your hanky alert, ok folks?

Got this from the Jawas, hallowed be their name.

ADDED: You can get more info on the movie, and purchase it here at their website.

This one is kinda tough for me actually. Although raised in Massachusetts, I was born just outside Bangor, and my entire family lives there, except my Brother and I who made it out. Been through that airport more than a few times. You can actually buy little lobsters in cardboard boxes there. It’s also the airport that was the alleged one for the movie Langoliers, but they used a different one that was about 15x the size of the Bangor Airport.

People in Maine are my favorite people, and it has a charm that is unlike any other place I have been. In SC everyone greets everyone else on the streets, or that was my experience when I went to college there. Maine is kinda the same thing, only not Southern (Obviously). My grandmother to her dying day told me that I should move back home because there was nothing anyone needed in life that wasn’t there in abundance in Maine. 30 years after moving out (at 2 weeks old) my Aunt one time got all teary eyed relaying to my then girlfriend how my parents took me away.

So anyway, I’m always proud of my Maine roots. The Senators piss me off, and sometimes the folks there can be a bit moon-batty, but they are troop supporters like no other group of people I have seen. The Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington is the company that puts the wreaths at Arlington during the Holidays. I regret this will be another movie, like Taking Chance that I won’t be able to watch. I’m just too sensitive to stuff like this. Maybe some day I can watch it, but for now, I’m just proud it was made.

UPDATE: Uncle Jimbo v. The Lummox from PA made Politico today. Hilarious. I am proud just carrying that guy’s camera while he discusses how he would “do” a “Code Pink Cutie.”

Wow does this crack me up. So, my reward for posting the other day about Kokesh and the PTSD discussion is to be the apparent target of some sophomoric bullshit on his blog and his facebook page. Apparently, I am to be threatened by his having taken my picture. I don’t know if he took it in a camera he made out of a shoebox, or if his camera just sucks, but here is his picture entitled “The pro-war blogosphere is here!”

That is me, Jonn and Jimbo, no doubt checking out one of the Peace Fairies or something. The comments to this are priceless, and since I am not a “friend” of Adam’s on Facebook, I will endeavor to respond here.

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As Jonn noted, this is National Medal of Honor of Honor Day, and this is the guy I’d like to honor.

I want to set the stage before I really discuss this guy, only because it is phenomenal. I’ve talked before about my immense respect for Hiroshi Miyamura. This is a similiar sort of story. I’m not much on noting race of an individual in general, and abhor it in specifics today, but I think it is important for both Mr Miyamura’s story and that of this other gentleman that it be considered, since the acts they did were done at the behest of a sometimes ungrateful nation.

During WWII, Japaneese and German POWs were relocated to camps throughout the US. I’ve read about baseball leagues of POWs, and various other anecdotes about their freedom. There’s a book I have been looking at purchasing that discusses the POWs in Wisconsin in particular called Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WWII Prisoner of War Camps by Betty Cowley. The review of that book illustrates my point pretty well:

“Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WW II prisoner-of-war camps” is a comprehensive look inside Wisconsin’s 38 branch camps that held 20,000 Nazi and Japanese prisoners of war during World War II. Most worked on farms, harvesting peas and other crops. Many of these prisoners blended with the local community, drinking at taverns and even dating local young women. Some returned and settled in Wisconsin after their release.

Meanwhile, African Americans in the US, be they regular citizens or service members had no such rights. The Discovery Channel has an excellent video on Youtube that covers some of the struggles that they went to just to contribute during the war, and I suggest it is worth a watch if you have the time.

Either way, we can agree that it was not a particularly good time to be African American, particularly not when you are in another country, under fire from an enemy that (if captured) will be sent to your country, and while there treated better than you. I can’t even imagine how bad that would be. Enter into this background LT. John R. Fox.

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I had a reasonably nice conversation with Adam Kokesh at the rally the other day. Started out kinda crappy. Adam long ago had a problem with a claim for PTSD before the VA, and he got screwed, and without reason. I offered then to help, since I know people who do the claims. So, having not heard an update on this matter, I introduced myself and asked about it. Then I told him I was “TSO.”

Then it turned not as friendly. It wasn’t bad mind, it just wasn’t quite as congenial. First off, Adam is way more aggressive than I am. I’m the unicorn believing/let’s talk it over type, Adam seems to be the pointy finger/accusation type. No biggie. But I also get weirded out by people who debate while wearing sun glasses. I like to look a man in the eyes, and Adam was wearing CHIPS, circa 1982 sunglasses. But, that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, Adam has this belief that their exists an unwritten code, which he calls the “Brotherhood of Veterans” wherein you don’t “cross a line” with a fellow veteran of the GWOT. Adam suggested that Jonn’s post here crossed that line. Only, it wasn’t Jonn’s post, it was mine, and I didn’t even realize it until I went home to reread it. Well, you go read it. Was I making fun of PTSD? Was I making fun of Adam for some untold reason? No, I was drawing attention to the fact that he was engaging in truly self-destructive behavior, and his friends in IVAW ought to be cognizant of that.
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