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

Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War

  • Taking responsibility for things you didn’t do

    I guess it was last year that Matthis took responsibility for occupying a booth at Baskin Robbins on Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan for six days and apologized to the people of Afghanistan. Today, we get IVAW member Josh Stieber (who was being punished and wasn’t on the operation) and Ethan McCord who, apparently was on the operation, apologizing for what is now known as the “Collateral Murder” video;

    Peace be with you.

    To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the “Collateral Murder” Wikileaks video:

    We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses.

    We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions.

    There is no bringing back all that was lost. What we seek is to learn from our mistakes and do everything we can to tell others of our experiences and how the people of the United States need to realize what have done and are doing to you and the people of your country. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.

    We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature of how U.S.-led wars are carried out in this region.

    We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and carried out in the name of “god and country”. The soldier in video said that your husband shouldn’t have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us.

    More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.

    Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation’s leaders no longer represent us. Our secretary of defense may say the U.S. won’t lose its reputation over this, but we stand and say that our reputation’s importance pales in comparison to our common humanity.

    With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.

    Solemnly and Sincerely,

    Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army
    Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army

    Since Steiber was in the rear with the gear, why did he think that an apology was even necessary? McCord did everything he could to save that child’s life – so what’s he apologizing for? It’s just another feel good moment for the duo – a grand, empty gesture. As meaningless as Steiber being called a “witness” to the shooting, even though the first time he ever saw the operation was when the rest of us saw the leaked video.

    Thanks to Jake D. for the link.

  • “Liberty Candidates” threaten law suits to defend Kokesh

    There’s a group of candidates in the country who call themselves the “Liberty Candidates“. Among them is IVAW member Adam Kokesh. Another group of voters have formed the “American Patriots Against Kokesh“. Two groups with varying opinions. Here is the “Liberty Candidates” Mission Statement;

    Our mission is in sync with Campaign for Liberty from whence the Liberty Candidate questions evolved:

    * Individual Liberty
    * Sound Money
    * Free Market
    * Constitutional Government
    * Non-interventionist Foreign Policy

    Our Goal is to have at least one Liberty Candidate in each state: 50 Dr. No’s*!!!

    Innocuous enough, oh, I forgot this line; “Dr. Ron Paul is a.k.a. Dr. No because he votes NO for all legislation outside the Constitution!”

    Yes, they Ron Paul supporters hiding behind their unexpressed interpretations of the Constitution.

    Well, apparently the “Liberty Candidates” don’t like the fact that the APAK folks get a voice and one of the “Liberty candidates” have threatened to sue;

    To: Susan Wolf, American Patriots Against Kokesh and associated hate groups;

    RE: Slander, Libelous Statements, Use of threats, coersion to prevent income, tampering with election funding, use of misleading video clips and doctored footage.

    On behalf of Liberty Candidates, as I am one, I find your actions abhorrent and unlawful. Those organizations using a 503c Charitable Organization charter will be subject to diciplinary measures by the authorities in your respective states. This serves as notification that Liberty Candidates, all 126+ are in the process of filing legal action against your all of the organizations in the coming week. For those of you that are private citizens that participated in this outrageous action, I should hope that you are financially well off. Your plan to threaten the citizens of the United States into not donating to a political candidate of their choice and in their state violates many laws that we do not have enough paper to possibly list here. Groups holding a 503c charter are prohibited from endorsing ANY particular candidate. By slandering Adam Kokesh, Candidate for New Mexico’s race, you have indirectly endorsed Lujan. All candidates have suffered large financial losses to their campaign funding, so enjoy your moment of gloating. It will be short lived. Rest assured, we have employed several laywers that will work on a pro bono basis to recoup these losses from your hate groups. This is your one and only notice to CEASE and DESIST from these types of unlawful activities. We are asking for the sum of $126,000,000.00 (one hundred and twenty-six million dollars) from each group responsible for these actions. We will begin serving these complaints in the next 7-10 days, one as a class action lawsuit, and should that fail; each candidate will be serving their own individual complaints against you following that. I suggest you focus your activities on a local level, and be more productive in helping those in your communities. You have run up against a large group of determined individuals that refuse to be stopped in their quest to return America back to the Constitution. We will use this great document to the fullest extent in making sure that the 2010 elections are not influnced by hate groups such as yours. Have a nice day!

    Sincerely, Steve Susman, Liberty Candidate

    Here’s Steve Susman’s website. It looks like he’s running for Congress in Texas, but who can tell by the website? Another Ron Paul basement-dwelling pseudo-intellectual who will probably end up telling me do my own research at some point.

    I guess “return America to the Constitution” means “sue everyone who disagrees with you and provides indisputable proof”.

    Since all of the evidence that I’ve provided against Kokesh is original documentation, since none of my videos have been altered in anyway, I’ll quote the smartest president of the 21st century thus far – Bring it on! If you think that Kokesh is worth dragging your organization down to his level, if you think you can campaign and wage a legal war at the same time from the comfort of your parents’ basement, sue me, bitches.

  • Marc Hall slides

    IVAW member Marc Hall, the Stop Loss rapper, slides off with virtually no punishment after he threatened to shoot his superiors back in December, according to the Associated Press;

    The dismissal for misconduct means Spc. Marc A. Hall will avoid criminal charges but lose all military benefits earned over at least four years of service, including an earlier tour in Iraq.

    Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said Saturday that top brass decided to discharge Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he admitted his guilt.

    So Hall makes out fine, while I’m sure some of his fellow soldiers are weighing the consequences of their own adherence to Army policy. Yeah, he lost his benefits, but he was facing 15 years in prison for communicating a threat – in fact he’s communicated threats several times – and we all know how his (NLG) lawyers will eventually coerce the VA in to giving the former mechanic back his benefits.

    Bloom said that Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff signed off Friday on a plea deal for Hall to admit guilt and be discharged from the Army instead of face trial in Baghdad, as military lawyers requested.

    I understand the Army’s reluctance to make a big deal out of this, but it will bite them in the ass. They don’t need to hear it from me, they know.

    Thanks to Sparky for the link.

  • Stephen Colbert Does What Nobody Else Has the Balls To Do

    We’ve been calling out WikiLeaks and their friends in the anti-military left over the “collateral murder video” pretty frequently here at TAH for the last week. We aren’t the only ones: most of the milblog community (including many left-leaning and anti-war veterans blogs) has been demolishing this blatantly editorialized video.

    Last night Stephen Colbert did what seems like nobody else in the media has the balls to do: call out WikiLeaks director Julian Assange and expose him as a fraud.

    Watch the whole thing, it is worth it:

    The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
    Julian Assange
    www.colbertnation.com
    Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

    Beautiful. Finally, someone takes Assange and WikiLeaks off its high horse and exposes them as another anti-military propaganda outfit with an agenda. I bet this guy was expecting a softball interview too. Does anybody honestly believe they leak everything they get now? How much more footage or documentation are they sitting on in regards to this incident?

    It is a sad commentary on the state of big media in this country that a professional comedian with a fake news show exposes more about a major news story than an established REAL media outlet.

  • IVAW’s witness to Wikileaks vid

    Well, another B 2/16 soldier has come forward to join IVAW’s Josh Stieber. There’s now an MP3 interview from a radio show. His name is Ethan McCord. I’ve listened to the interview and although everyone is making a big deal out of it, there is nothing earth shattering about the interview.

    The media’s main complaint is the language used by the pilots. Yes, it’s shocking that pilots are so cavalier – never before in history have pilots been cavalier, right? Their indictment against the military seems to be that the Army kills people and that Iraqis should be allowed to bring their children to a fire fight without worry. That’s just stupid/

    Here’s my complaint; people who call themselves journalists should actually watch the videos and know what they’re talking about. All of the interviews I listened to or read or watched in regards to this call the vehicle which drives over a body a Bradley (some morons even call it a tank) like Amy Goodman Democracy Now! propagandist does in this interview with Stieber (who doesn’t correct her, by the way);

    democracy-now-stieber5a

    Now, does this look like a Bradley to anyone, because this is the vehicle that runs over a body;

    bradley

    This screen shot is from 12:47 in the video, just after the Wikileaks title page that identifies it as a Bradley – so all of the idiot journalists fall in line and without a whit of research parrot the line. So how can we expect these numbnuts to put any of the video into context when they can’t even ID vehicles properly?

  • IVAW’s witness to “collateral murder”

    Josh Stieber was in B 2/16 Infantry on the day the the “Collateral Murder” video was shot, according to him in this interview

    The IVAW article about the video admits that Steiber wasn’t on the scene that particular day because he was being punished for disobeying an order earlier – so that’s his starting point in the story. No where. He wasn’t there, and he was a consciencious objector. Stieber goes to say that the soldiers in video weren’t bad apples, but he hints that they’re mindless drones who are only acying and talking like they were programmed to act and talk. I guess folks in the military aren’t smart enough to think for themselves. Well, except Stieber…who was being punished for disobeying a lawful order.

    Of course, it’s difficult to insult the “system” without insulting the people who are the system. Yes, the helicopter pilots were in a rush to kill some terrorists standing on a corner in proximity to US troops and their on-going operation. It’s not some immature video game jabber – it was the excitement over avoiding a US catastrophe and casualties. I guess Stieber never understood the camaraderie of the military because he was too busy avoiding his duty.

    At the IVAW website, Stieber shows just how ignorant and immature he’s become;

    “If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like,” says Stieber. “If you don’t like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war.”

    Yes, alternatives to war – like Twinkie-eating contests or unicorn races.

    Background on Stieber and his “expert” opinion. It seems to me that if this was a big deal and Stieber had anything to contribute, he’d have done so before the video became public.
    Stieber’s IVAW profile (you can’t get there from here)
    Stieber and Elaine Brower.
    Contagious Love

  • Charity; UR doin’ it wrong

    The last we heard about Stop Loss rapper Marc Hall, he was headed to Iraq for his court martial. He faced charges that he that threatened to shoot his chain-of-command in his little recording of a rap ditty. So if he’s going to Iraq, obviously, his civilian lawyers won’t be there. Can anyone tell me why his National Lawyer Guild counselors would need to raise money for his defense?

    charity-yer-doin-it-wrong

    Now someone tell me how the anti-war Left isn’t doing what they do for profit.

  • Hey! You Nazis in the back want to get in step?

    Steve Yoczik is a pretty verbose guy. he writes long, rambling missives at IVAW that have no real unifying point so you have to read carefully if read his latest “Self-image versus organizational functionality, and the contradictions therein. (THE FLAG IS NOT THE ISSUE)“. Don’t worry, I’ve read the whole thing and I still don’t what the title means, but I did pick oout a point or two buried between the bloated linguistics;

    There needs to be a reality check across the board, and that can’t happen if we’re all adamantly holding to our individual beliefs and thinking we know what’s best for everyone else.

    Yeah, all of you better get step because we can’t have you “adamantly holding to [y]our individual beliefs”. You should only hold on to the beliefs that are approved by the board (in their spineless way of trying to make the communists and the straights both happy – and their constantly changing votes). Do you think the national Socialists would have risen to power if all of the members had “adamantly holding to [their] individual beliefs”? Of course not.

    So all of you clowns in the back row better straighten out otherwise the IVAW won’t become a socialist organization and realize it’s internationalist goals. Think that’s not what he meant?

    Che, King, and everyone else that is idolized or looked up to were nothing without those who unified around them. Instead of trying to be them right out of the gate, we should focus on being those that gather around.

    We don’t need you guys spoutin’ off, just be good sheep and get in the herd with the rest of us. Of course, Yoczik absconded to Canada when he received the call so is this another attempt by one of non-combat veterans of IVAW to preach to the combat veterans and chide them for their service?

    By the way, this is Matthis latest avatar on Facebook. I suppose it’s to give the impression that he’s the one being burned, not the flag. More of that martyrdom complex he has;

    matthis-buring