This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Deserter goes on trial today (UPDATED)

    Robin Long, the first deserter to be deported from Canada since the Vietnam War goes on trial today at Fort Carson, Colorado. He’s made a deal to plead guilty so it should be a short trial (SFGate link);

    Pvt. Robin Long, 25, of Boise, Idaho, faces up to three years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, civilian defense attorney James Branam said Thursday.

    Long went to Canada in 2005, but authorities there denied his request for refuge and deported him in July of this year.

    Branam said Long has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to desertion with intent to remain away permanently, a lesser charge than desertion with intent to shirk hazardous duty.

    The Left blames the Conservative Canadian government and their commitment to the Afghanistan War for the deportation. But Canada said, after Jimmy Carter’s sweeping amnesty for draft dodgers, that US cowards couldn’t depend on Canada harboring them again.

    From Icono-Curmudgeon-Clast;

    Members of the Colorado Springs peace community filled up the courtroom on base with supporters, and will begin new counseling to war resisters.

    So here’s some counseling that you can get from me for free;

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  • IVAW scrapes bottom of barrel

    As I’ve been writing the last few months, the Iraq Veterans Against the War have been trying to get the word out about the perceived atrocities they’ve witnessed in Iraq. The media has largely ignored them so they’ve been on the road this summer hoping someone will notice them. No one has noticed them thus far…until now.

    LT Nixon emails me this morning that they’ve caught the attention of that paragon of virtue and truth Hustler Magazine (beware of any links at El-Tee’s place – he doesn’t have a wife that bonks him on the head when nekkid women pop up on the screen).

    Slog‘s Bethany Jean Clement has the press release;

    HUSTLER Magazine November 2008

    The Winter Soldiers Speak Out

    In arguably the most shocking piece of the year, HUSTLER Magazine reports on the truth about what’s going on in Iraq. The “Winter Soldier” veterans, as they are called, speak out about the war and the thousands of innocent Iraqi civilian casualties. One of the brave soldiers brought back a video of his sergeant declaring, “The difference between an insurgent and an Iraqi civilian is whether they are dead or alive.” The soldier explains: “If you kill a civilian, he becomes an insurgent because you retroactively make him a threat.” Gruesome photos accompany the article.

    Yeah, see this goes to my post the other day. One “brave” soldier brings back a video of his SERGEANT declaring…. Did he bring back a video of his commander saying this? Or an even higher commander? Nope…IVAW is in the business of smearing the soldiers and Marines. And then they slap each other on the back and call themselves “brave”…and then wonder why they don’t get any respect from other veterans. “Gruesome photos accompany the article” just has too many possibilities coming from Hustler.

    I’ll let the commenters go into depth on this one.

    Ya know, I wonder if IVAW or Huster realize that no one who buys that particular magazine can read. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – Hustler’s first publication coincided with my first month in basic training, so we’ve grown old together. But, I think if I wanted to get an anti-war message out, Hustler would probably be the last place I’d go.

    LT Nixon, in his email to me, ruminated about a photo layout of nekkid, hairy-legged hippie chicks. I’m sure he gets to see enough of those in the Great Northwest, though.

  • IVAW retools their message

    Six months ago, at Winter Soldier II, the message that the Iraq Veterans Against the War tried to tell the country was that we were failing in Iraq. None of them had been there since the “surge” began, but that didn’t stop them from criticizing General Petreaus before he even had an opportunity to open his mouth and give his testimony to Congress.

    For example, Luis Montalvan brought a power-point presentation with confusing bargraphs and wire diagrams just to illustrate how General Petreaus was lying before the good General spoke a word. Montalvan hadn’t been in Iraq for more than two years at the time of his testimony and his dog-and-pony show in Silver Spring.

    The American public didn’t bite. The media, for their part, finally found an anti-war message they couldn’t embrace. They still had a bad taste in their collective mouth from being hornswaggled by IVAW member Jesse MacBeth, they weren’t going to bite again. Winter Soldier fizzled as a result. Over the last six months they tried to pass off the same message, but the only people biting were the peace-at-any-cost crowd who wanted to believe anything and immature little college kids who just didn’t know better.

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  • Obama at the VFW (UPDATED)

    I just caught snippets of Obama’s speech at the VFW this morning and I just want to make some comments to clarify that which he has muddied.

    Obama claimed that he opposed the war in Iraq at a time when it was politically difficult for him to do so. That’s Horseshit. It hasn’t been politically difficult for anyone to oppose the war in Iraq since 1990. The entire Democrat caucus held GHW Bush hostage for tax hikes while troops were on the ground in the Middle East facing Hussein’s armies. I remember three congressmen standing on the roof of one of Saddam’s palaces and say that Hussein was more trustworthy than President Bush while they opposed the war in Iraq. At no time in our recent history has it been politically difficult to be against any war.

    Obama claimed that he knew that the war in Iraq would give rise to Islamic extremism in the region. What gave rise to Islamic extremism was the cowardice and the inability of the Left in this country to recognize the danger in the Middle East and the lack of commitment to dealing a deadly blow to that danger. Hussein handed out copies of Black Hawk Down to his military chiefs to convince them that Americans could be beaten by resisting long enough…because he knew, like the Taliban and al Qaeda know, that our weak link is the vocal and cowardly anti-war at any cost Leftists. Like Obama.

    The only time the Left shows even a hint of bravery is when they’re being cowardly.

    UPDATE: Ok, I’ve had a chance to do some more research and look at a partial script at WSJ’s Washington Wire, so I’m updating my thoughts.

    While Obama did oppose the war in the beginning, he did it from Chicago, not from Washington. How “politically difficult” was it to be against the war in Chicago?

    Today he accused McCain of distorting his record on the war;

    “Yesterday, Senator McCain came before you. He is a man who has served this nation honorably, and he correctly stated that one of the chief criteria for the American people in this election is going to be who can exercise the best judgment as Commander in Chief. But instead of just offering policy answers, he turned to a typical laundry list of political attacks. He said that I have changed my position on Iraq when I have not. He said that I am for a path of “retreat and failure.” And he declared, “Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president” – suggesting, as he has so many times, that I put personal ambition before my country,” Obama told the crowd.

    In 2004, while he was making a run at a national office in the Senate, he told a Chicago reporter “There’s not much difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage” on July 27th, 2004 (John Kass “Obama’s a Star Who Doesn’t Stick to the Script“, Chicago Tribune, July 27, 2004). Now, I don’t think George Bush opposed the war in 2004. Obama claims he was taken out of context, but read the article yourself.

    After Obama’s speech, McCain’s staff sent this message to the press in attendence;

    “Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain doesn’t have to compensate for a lack of credibility on the international stage with inflammatory and public threats against American allies. The American people know that John McCain will hunt down terrorists wherever they are, and have a choice between strength and experience versus Barack Obama’s rhetoric and theatrics,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

    But you’ll probably only hear that on the blogs.

  • Pretzel Logic

    f3h.jpg

    Impeachment seems to be slipping through their fingers, Nancy Pelosi has abandoned them on defunding the war in Iraq. Even their last hope, Barack Obama admits that maybe he won’t pull troops out of Iraq as soon as everyone hoped. So what’s the Left to do? Well, it seems they’re trying to rally State governments in order to stop augmenting our armed forces with National Guard troops. Several organizations link to a central page at Liberty Tree which touts itself as a “Foundation for the Democratic Revolution” and another named Peace Action. This whole movement seems to have started in the most logical of places – Vermont.

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  • More drunkblogging pictures

    Tankerbabe sent me some more pictures last night, so I thought I’d post some of the less embarrassing here. She also pointed me to Gun Nutt’s Photobucket if this isn’t enough for you.

    Jimbo and Concretebob get ready for infiltrating the moonbats’ ranks

    Behind the magic of This Ain’t Hell videos;

    Another angle from across the street;

    The first Car Bomb;

    Tankerbabe and her kids

    And these two classics;

    Setting up for the next Car Bomb

  • Friday night drunkblogging Silver Spring

    Late yesterday afternoon I got an email from Blackfive‘s Uncle Jimbo inviting me to Walter Reed for the weekly Friday night FReep and, of course, I accepted. As soon as I got there, Jimbo started getting mischievous and went down to the Code Pink/union thug area and tried to join them with the above pictured sign, explaining that he only wants peace…just like them. But Bruce Wolfe, the union thug who has responsibility for manning the space (since it’s hardly on Code Pink’s radar these days) was having none of it.

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  • It’s Obama’s fault

    As I’ve said a few times, this year just isn’t a good year for protests. It’s difficult for me get decent pictures anymore of Code Pink trolls on rolling beds or flocks of SEIU purple-clad socialists being herded by their handlers on the subway.

    All this time I thought the anti-war peace movement was petering out because of their intellectually invalid message. But from Don Surber, I learn that Tom Hayden is blaming Obama in The Nation.

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