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

Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War

  • Matthis skates again

    Apparently the last Board member voted yesterday and Matthis gets to burn as many flags as he wants in the name of the IVAW.
    matthis-skates

    If Matthis can be believed the deciding vote was cast by octogenarian Wes Davey pictured below delivering an ultimatum to John McCain at the Republican National Convention in 2008;

    wes-davey

    Of course, that was a few years ago, so we have an artist’s rendering of what we imagine Davey looks like today;

    2cwwl54

    So now you guys know who to thank for ya all being Matthis today. It’s the same as when you all supported Carl Webb’s toxic lunacy – now whether or not you like it, you support flag burning by being members of the IVAW. How’s it feel?

    You’re all flag-burning Socialists by staying in the organization – I’m not trying to shame you into leaving – if you’re still there after everything you’ve seen the last few years, being a flag-burning socialist ain’t bringing you out.

    So wear your T-shirt with pride and do Matthis’ bidding right along with that guy on your left and right who didn’t go to Iraq, either.

  • Matthis screwed to the wall

    IVAW's Matthis Chiroux, Robyn Murray and MFSO's Elaine Brower burn the US flag "This is not my country!"
    IVAW's Matthis Chiroux, Robyn Murray and MFSO's Elaine Brower burn the US flag "This is not my country!"

    Apparently the IVAW Board has reversed itself, changed last month’s vote on whether or not to punish Matthis for his flag-burning escapades.

    matthis-status-re-vote-2a

    Typical sociopath; “Give me something else to burn” He doesn’t learn from his mistakes – he tries to go bigger and flashier to stick it to the man – the man in this case is the IVAW Board, apparently. And of his little enablers chirping up a storm of support. And he basks in the glow of their adulation.

    The IVAW board, who caved under the weight of disgust of Matthis’ actions last month are finally doing what they should have done in the first place. But they don’t get cheers from me because it only proves that they’ll only do what is the most politically expedient, balancing the organization between the extemists of the Far Left International Socialist Organization and the veterans who merely oppose the war.

    Well, those of you who merely oppose the war know now what Board member Matthis thinks of you. You “only police the radicals” these days.

    So why are you still there again? Matthis ain’t leavin’ – him and Ward Reilly will be there to turn out the lights.

  • Dave Airhart; Oldie but goodie phony

    This guy has been on the loose for at least five years, but the NPRC finally answered a POW Net FOIA request over three years old on Dave Airhart. His main claim to fame while a student at Kent State was quoted in this reprint of a Stan Goff (CounterPunch) article;

    I spent 4 months in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and 6 months in Iraq and 7 months in Afghanistan, so I have a pretty well rounded perspective of everything that’s going on in this war on terror.

    In another interview with Counterpunch, Airhart said;

    I was in the Marine Corps Infantry. I learned absolutely nothing of value in the rest of the world. I learned how to shoot guns and how to get yelled at a lot.

    Well, not according to the NPRC;
    (more…)

  • The million dollar question for James Branum.

    Awhile back I wrote about Eric Jasinski and how James Branum helped him in getting jail time for going AWOL. Well James replied to me that he has many clients that he has defended successfully. It is only the ones that have been public have gotten the jail time and bad conduct discharge. It was just by chance that all the public ones got the bad verdict. Also he gives a excuse for any questions we have made so far about him..

    I have a policy of not responding to anyone affiliated with TAH. Responding to them gives their website credibility, which is why I do not respond to their posts on their website anymore.

    So I go back and check to find a un-named person asking the same type of questions we have. I guess it might take a person on the other side of the spectrum to get the point across.

    I like how no one can give a direct and honest answer to mastersporks simple question. How many people who refused deployment for moral or medical reasons that Branum represented not get the worst outcome possible? Eric Jasinki should be getting medical treatment and the fact he got jail time is absurd and while a strike against the Army it is also a strike against Under The Hood Cafe for feeding another Soldier who needed help to this incompetent practitioner of the law.

    The UCMJ allows for a Soldier to choose free representation from any lawyer from any branch all paid for by the Military. So there would be no need for Branum.

    AWOL does not mean automatic jail time. For anyone to suggest that is grossly misinformed. They just want to get that person off the books and move on. Branum seems to go in a botch things up so bad they end up getting jail time. No one is also the wiser because people on the outside like these activists don’t understand the UCMJ, hate the Army, so they will blame the Military because they are already predetermined to. Lack of knowledge and true understand allows Branum to operate in this manner. People need to look at the actual numbers for how many Soldiers actually get jail time for going AWOL. It is very very low.

    Another absurd accusation is that anyone who stands up to the Military will get punished to the severity in which Bramun’s clients do. How these people have forgotten active duty troops who stood up and all walked away with Honorable Discharges and zero jail time is sad. Colby Buzzel, Ronn Cantu, Casey Porter, Selena Coppa, just to name a few.

    Support war resisters, keep them away from Under The Hood and James Branum.

    James gives a typical reply about the John Doe clients.

    Anonymous, as I stated earlier, the overwhelming majority of my clients do NOT get jail time. I don’t know how much more clear I can get on this point.

    Even for my clients who aren’t just garden variety AWOL’s but actually refuse deployments, a high percentage get no jail time. (if you wait until the last minute to refuse, your odds go down obviously).

    But I make no guarantees. Sometimes I can swing a good deal. Sometimes I can’t. Any lawyer who claims they get good deals all of the time, either only take easy cases, is a liar, and/or is a fool.

    But this is the money shot question in the reply.

    Then Mr. Branum I ask you to answer a straight forward question: How many war resisters have you represented that did not get a negative discharge or get jail time? I’m not asking for court documents, or anything that would violate client attorney privilege. Actually, giving out such information would not violate that trust because any case would be a matter of public record and there is no foreseeable legal reason I can think of as to why a case like that would be sealed. So please, sir, can we get that number?

    So what is your answer James?

  • IVAW Flag-burning still an issue

    IVAW's Matthis Chiroux, Robyn Murray and MFSO's Elaine Brower burn the US flag "This is not my country!"

    I know I haven’t mentioned the IVAW’s flag burning last month in a while, but it’s time has come again. It seems that there is still an internal discussion going on and some of it leaks out through the cracks in IVAW’s leaky security. Most recently, one member of the Los Angeles Chapter sent out a missive on the subject (all of the spelling, grammar and lack of Caps is from the original);
    (more…)

  • SV Millard: Iraq veteran in Vietnam

    Geof “Stolen Valor” Millard has a story up on the IVAW website which chronicles his latest adventure to Vietnam, entitled “My part in a veterans deligation [sic] to Vietnam“. Millard is famous for his trips to places like Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela to denigrate America. Now he goes to Vietnam with VVAW and VFP members to trot out his biases and blow his own horn;

    Virtnam may seem an odd place for an Iraq vet whose parents had not even met when the last US forces retreated in defeat hanging from helicopters, but somehow I was the perfect peice to complete a very complicated puzle. You see there are many conections to be made between the two wars but I was there because both were toxic battlefields that left veteran and civillian alike scared for many generations.

    I guess he doesn’t have spell check on his computer;

    I was amazed to see vterans of both sides share war storries as easily as stories of thier children, most of whom are many years my elder. These vets also share disseases that are just as much the legacy of Vietnam as is that black mirrored wall on the north west side of our national mall, just to the left of lincolns feet.

    My thoughts offten wandered forward in time to the day when I would go to Iraq. When I would meet with my former foe. When I would help press my government to take resposability and provide relief for the toxic battlefield we have been creating seince the first gulf war.

    Millard had an enemy in Iraq other than boredom? He was a general’s gopher. He spent his whole time in Iraq trying to get back to the States because he had an owie in his back (that he admits he had since high school).

    Depleted uranium is killing our soldiers in Iraq & Afghanistan.

    We must fight for compensation and treatment before thousands die from DU as they did from AO. We must link our struggle for justice with that of those left alive in the toxic battlefieds that we are now slowly pulling out of.

    There it is – the IVAW is going to try to copy the Vietnam War veterans by pushing this absolutely ridiculous depleted uranium canard. That’s all they have and if you don’t believe them they’ll wave the Agent Orange bloody shirt.

    I’m proud of my trip and I am proud of the work done by VVAW, VFP, and IVAW. I am proud that while some spend thier time protesting antiwar veterans, we the antiwar vterans are hard at work for peace and justice for all.

    “Hard at work” only if it involves completely ridiculous trips to communist countries to push an agenda that doesn’t help American veterans. Then swat at ghosts of completely manufactured maladies.

    I guess he’s saying that the American Legion and VFW are “protesting antiwar veterans” but if he’s trying to say that IVAW has done more more for veterans than the traditional VSOs because they took this one useless trip, he’s fooling himself.

    In fact, maybe IVAW can stop pushing their “Veterans as sociopathic nuts” meme to help fix this problem;

    “Part of the issue is there’s a real disconnect between the military and the rest of America,” said Mark Walker, deputy director of the American Legion’s economic division.

    “People outside the military don’t know about PTSD or TBI. It’s all new to them. So they worry, ‘Am I going to see some sort of outburst? What might he do?’”

    How about fixing that, Geoff, instead of flying to Vietnam to take shots at us!

  • I guess it’s safe enough now

    Funny how some IVAW members have finally foound Iraq safe enough to visit these days. Last year TJ Buonomo, the guy who got a free education at the Air Force Academy and then filed as a conscientious objector went over. This year, it’s former Kokesh girlfriend, Tracey Harmon.

    cimg3374_2_small

    Oh, look out Tracey, you might get some Saddam cooties on ya!

    Now the article that I got the picture from says that Harmon is a conscientious objector, but I don’t think I’ve ever read that anywhere before. If she was a CO, that makes this trip even more pathetic. For some reason, I got the impression that she just lucked out and didn’t get deployed, but, hey, the hippies know her better than I do, so we’ll go with their story. For some reason, researching the females at IVAW feels like stalking to me, and I’m not into that.

    There are more pictures of her standing on and around the same tank here, if you’re interested. It’s all pretty boring.

    We can probably count on her to use this as some sort of authority on the war now (I think she’s been in the region a few times since she left the Reserves).

    The article reads;

    Representatives of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, including conscientious objector Tracey Harmon (pictured below), are spreading the message of freedom to Iraq – not with war, but with peace.

    Yeah, go talk to al Qaeda first.

  • Parody misses mark

    At the IVAW blog, Jeremy Berggren, another one of those Iraq Veterans Against the War who has never been to Iraq or any war, tried to write some parody about the organization as it slowly outlives it’s designated 15 minutes of fame, Of course what parody about IVAW would be complete without some shots at Casey Porter and me.

    There are reports that a former member of IVAW is making a mini documentary about the situation and will take all the credit for anything productive that comes from this internal debate. And each undercover operative that has infiltrated IVAW agrees that this is really what makes their jobs worthwhile.

    An expert critic of IVAW who runs the blog “This Ain’t Hell” was asked why he continues to try and stir things up from outside the organization. It seems the blogger, also known in some social circles as “Pappy Small Dick” and “Poochy McGee” cannot stand an organization that isn’t made up of all middle aged white men that spent a major part of their lives in the military, particularly when all members are veterans and are now challenging the same white supremacist heterosexist patriarchal system he is clinging on to. Poochy McGee claims he will keep attacking IVAW as that is what his mentors would like and references such legends as Joseph Goebels, Rush Limbaugh, and Eugene “Bull” Connor as his mentors and heroes. McGee then stated he in fact, does not care about all veterans because that would mean he would have to treat “everyone as equals.” Several of his “ghey ritard” supporters unequivocally support his continued attacks and their own privilege.

    Good to see that they’re reading and taking notes. Too bad he sees the truth as propaganda.

    ADDED: Oh, I just figured out who Berggren is; he’s the guy who got PTSD from NOT deploying. How could I forget? That explains his sense of humor, or the lack of a sense of humor.