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

Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War

  • An open letter to New Mexico voters

    There’s a letter going around the internet that’s an open letter to the voters of New Mexico warning them of IVAW’s Adam Kokesh. I’ll lend my voice to it. Bubba of What Bubba Knows sent it to me first – he posted it on the Gathering of Eagles website. Our buddies ConcreteBob and DanNY posted it on United Conservatives of Virginia and American Patriots Against Kokesh, respectively.

    My suggestion, though is to target Kokesh’s sources of support like Stuart Rhodes of Oathkeepers, Ron Paul and Rand Paul. Kokesh’s membership in IVAW should be problematic for Oathkeepers since the IVAW is currently engaged in activities to encourage active duty members of the military to ignore their oaths of service – it seems to me that an organization called the Oathkeepers would consider that activity radioactive – but we’re not dealing with rational people here.

    I’m pretty sure that Ron and Rand Paul don’t want to be associated with those activities either – although Ron Paul accepts all tainted money, apparently. I don’t thin associating himself with Kokesh would go over very well in Texas – nor would it seem a successful association in Kentucky. I’m pretty sure voters in Texas and Kentucky would be dismayed to find out that their candidates associate themselves with Kokesh who planted racist posters around GWU in an attempt to frame a student group on campus. I’m pretty sure New mexico voters don’t know about all of Kokesh’s antics either.

    UPDATE: Just as I published this post, I received an email from my buddy, Bev Perlson, founder of the Band of Mothers who says she is dropping her support of the Oathkeepers for the same reasons. I hope she won’t mind me sharing a bit of her email;

    Stewart Rhodes finally did show up at the booth. I would describe my conversation with Stewart as very disappointing. He said the fellow sitting at the booth was a volunteer and he had told him to take the pin off???!!!!!!!!!!!!

    So taking the “Kokesh for Congress” pin off was good enough for Stewart Rhodes, President of Oathkeepers, but not for me.

    I asked Stewart about Michael Maresco who told me that he was the Activist of the year for Oathkeepers and he recruited Adam Kokesh. Stewart’s answer was vague and he denied knowing Michael Maresco. Funny thing though, I had seen Maresco at the booth. I told Stewart of my personal observations of Kokesh associating with marxist groups like the SDS, Code Pink, World Can’t Wait and ANSWER, and Kokesh’s involvement in the Winter Soldier Hearings, not to mention his involvement in impeding our recruiters at recruiting stations. I told Stewart I was very disappointed in his associations with Kokesh supporters and I would inform others what I observed at the Oathkeepers booth at CPAC.

    What I observed at the Oathkeepers booth at CPAC leaves me no choice but to disassociate The Band of Mothers with the Oathkeepers. The Band of Mothers do not support any groups who support Adam Kokesh or the IVAW or any groups who who impede our troops mission and discredit them in anyway. Oaths mean nothing to traitors.

    Updated March 10, 2010 1800 hrs. Bev sends this response to Michael Maresco;

    Michael,

    The fact of this entire matter is that anyone who seriously thinks Adam Kokesh is a Republican has lost sight of reality.
    Kokesh’s reputation precedes him.

    I don’t lie and my reputation precedes me.

    Your fantasy that my Marine friend is your friend, you are naive and almost childish. Ever hear that expression “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

    Sorry, but Kokesh cannot get up one day and put on a suit and tie and declare himself a Republican without backlash from every Patriot who has stood against him and his Marxist friends in DC.
    Enjoy your fantasyland, the rest of us will continue to fight the good fight and support our troops and we will continue to fight those who impede their efforts and mission.

    Beverly Perlson
    The Band of Mothers

  • As if you need another reason to dislike Matthis

    Someone sent me this video of Matthis Chiroux talking to a group of snooty kids in some Long Island educational organization. It’s actually the Woodhull Institute for “ethical leadership” so, boy is Matthis out of his depth. This is from their “About” page;

    The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian educational organization that provides ethical leadership training and professional development for women. Too often, success has been measured in terms of the accumulation of power and wealth, with almost no consideration of how these accomplishments have been achieved. Ethical leadership is concerned with the means as well as the ends to personal and professional achievements. As such, Woodhull has developed a community that encourages women to lead with honesty, respect, courage and compassion; to strive for the common ground in decision-making; and to share in community service.

    So why have they asked for Matthis to speak to them, I wonder. maybe it’s opposite day in Woodhull. In the video, you veterans listen for the line “returning war vets’ experiences prevent them from attaining their full potential”.

    Of course, Matthis wouldn’t know about returning veterans, because any of them worth a shit won’t talk to him because he tried to steal their valor by claiming to be a combat veteran himself, for six days of licking cones at Baskin Robbins in Bagram. And then, while defending himself against the internal IVAW membership charges of stolen valor against him, he demeaned their valor by claiming there was nothing valorous about their service -dragging them down to his sorry level.

    Returning veterans will never reach their full potential. And Matthis Chiroux will forever be a coward and a moron.

  • Carl Webb news

    He probably enjoys this kind of publicity, but I’m going to do my best to continue to remind IVAW why they booted Carl Webb last year. Their membership punishments tend to be brief. So here’s some screen shots of a conversation Webb had with some veterans somewhere that someone sent to me just to hold IVAW’s collective feet to the fire;
    (more…)

  • What the Hell do you know about Afghanistan?

    I caught wind of a little presentation that the Chicago chapter of IVAW was giving in the Windy City next month entitled “What the hell do you know about Afghanistan?“. Apparently, it’s designed to inform us woefully ignorant Americans about Afghanistan. But here’s their press release about the event;

    Iraq Veterans Against the War present a series of shorts, improvised skits, talks, stories, and performances that dive into how little and how much we know about Afghanistan. Hear from the first hand experience of veterans that have walked the streets and driven the roads of a country that too many of us know too little about. And tell us what the “hell” you know about a country we have now occupied
    for over nine years.

    So I went over to the Chicago Chapter’s roster just to see who the Hell is going to tell me what the Hell they know about Afghanistan.

    Chicago | Chapter 12

    President – Pete Sullivan
    Treasurer – Mike Applegate
    Secretary – Jim Redden

    So what is their background? According to their profiles, none of them have been Afghanistan – or Iraq for that matter;
    (more…)

  • Hall’s lawyers try to block his move to Kuwait

    Marc Hall, the Stop Loss Rapper had his lawyer file in a US District Court in Savannah, GA to prevent Hall’s unit from taking him to Kuwait for a court martial;

    Hall’s attorneys say the Army would violate his right to a fair trial by moving his case to a “war zone” where few civilian witnesses or lawyers would travel to defend him.

    So? What would civilians witnesses have to testify about in this case. As far as I can tell, everything in the case is related to the military.

    Gespass said Hall was making a political statement with his song and intended no real violence. He said Hall’s defense would likely include expert witnesses on hip-hop culture, who may be reluctant to travel to Iraq or Kuwait.

    Expert witnesses on hip-hop? Please.

    “I would think you would want people to testify about the nature of hip-hop and that those things contained in the song are not necessarily things to be taken seriously,” Gespass said.

    Yeah, because no one in the hip-hop culture has ever been murdered – well, except those rappers. And, oh, the fans at their concerts. But other than that, it’s only music, right?

    A note to Mr. Gespass; soldiers aren’t entitled to make political statements. And writing about internal military policy isn’t a political statement – it’s technical term is typical soldier bitching. If he hadn’t sent the CD to the Pentagon, he’d be sitting with his unit in Iraq right now doing whatever mechanics do in Iraq these days.

  • Kokesh takes a page from the Obama campaign

    Remember during the 2008 election, the Obama campaign had to put up a web page to fight the so-called mistruths about their candidate? Well, former or current IVAW member Adam Kokesh thought he ought to do it, too for his campaign in New Mexico. Let’s take a look at it;

    1. “Adam Kokesh never served in Iraq and is a phony veteran.”

    False. Despite all of the photos of me in Iraq that have been posted in a variety of places online including numerous credible news outlets, some people still think the best way to discredit me is to say that I never served in Iraq. So here is my favorite photo from my time in Iraq and you can see my final DD214 at the bottom of this page.

    Yeah, I fought that battle for him the other day.

    2. “Adam Kokesh protested his country in uniform.”

    False. This is a gross distortion of a street theater action that I performed with a group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on Capitol Hill to raise awareness among lawmakers whom we felt were out of touch with the reality of what was going on in Iraq. To say that this was “protesting America” is not only untrue, but unamerican. Part of what makes America great is that we know the difference between our great country and our corrupt government, and we celebrate when the American people stand up to corrupt forces in our government. While reenacting parts of our experiences in Iraq, we made it clear that we were not wearing official uniforms and that we were only representing ourselves, not the DoD, or any other branch of the government. There had already been a Supreme Court case affirming the legality of what we were doing, and we had a permit from the US Capitol Police.

    That’s not exactly true. He did protest in uniform and the Marine Corps downgraded his discharge as punishment.

    3. “Adam Kokesh admitted to drug abuse on his blog.”

    Distortion. When I got back from Iraq and was dealing with PTSD, I occasionally turned to alcohol. Because I had the help of a number of veterans, some of whom became members of the peer support group that I started for vets with PTSD and other readjustment issues, I was able to quit drinking entirely. I was also given a number of prescription drugs by the VA to deal with anxiety and used Xanax “as needed” to deal with stress. Because lots of veterans have dealt with similar issues and we have now lost more veterans to suicide than we have to combat in the Global War on Terror, I was motivated to address these issues head on and discuss them frankly on my blog. Fortunately, I was able to help many veterans as a result.

    It’s not really a distortion. He removed the paragraph from his blog in which he admitted he mixed gin and Xanax when he began his run for Congress, but not before TAH took a screen shot of the blog. In fact, TSO offered to help Kokesh get treatment and Kokesh declined.

    4. “Adam Kokesh is a communist, a socialist, and a liberal!”

    False. I have always had a deep-seated belief in freedom and the US Constitution. This charge comes from the fact that in the course of my activism, I have worked with people who hold a wide range of beliefs, including some from the extremes on “both sides.” I am proud of the fact that I can work with people who disagree with me and stay true to my beliefs. Because I am running as a Republican, some have tried to use some of the liberals that I have worked with against me, but I am particularly proud of the fact that in the course of working with people who disagree with me, I was able to expose and even convert many of them to the philosophy of freedom! As your Congressman, I will be able to work with a wide range of people on pressing issues to further the ideals of freedom.

    Well, if he’s not a socialist, he ought to stop marching with socialists. And hanging out with guys like Darnell Stephen Summers when he’s in Germany.

    5. “Adam Kokesh brought a gun back from Iraq.”

    True. It was a war souvenir that I brought back from Iraq in violation of general order 1A as issued by CENTCOM. When it was discovered by the Marines, I was immediately straightforward with my unit commander about what happened and I took my punishment like a Marine.

    I’m glad he owned up to that finally, but he should tell the rest of the story – he was reduced in rank in November, 2006. He immediately volunteered to go back to Iraq and the Marine Corps, because of his conviction for the pistol, wisely declined his offer. By Spring 2007, he was an anti-war activist.

    Numbers 6 and 7 are about whether he’s a Republican and whether or not he pays his taxes – I don’t really care and I’ll stick to stuff I can prove.

    8. “Adam Kokesh used inappropriate language when addressing an officer.”

    True. What is usually not mentioned is that I had already been discharged at the time and was no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. I did use inappropriate language in defending myself when the Marine Corps Mobilization Command threatened my right to speak out as a veteran. When I met the officer in person, I was able to make amends. Many veterans came to my support during that time. “Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same democratic right we’re trying to instill in Iraq is not what we’re all about,” said Gary Kurpius, national commander of the 2.4 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars. In some ways, I spoke from a deep frustration from not finding adequate justification for my life being on the line in Iraq. While many of them are not actively speaking out, when the vast majority of Iraq vets wanted us out years ago, I am glad that I did what I could to give our shared frustration a voice.

    No, Kokesh hadn’t been discharged at the time he used inappropriate language. he was still in possession of a legitimate military ID card which he used to access a military base in Germany in May, 2007. That page has since been removed from the IVAW website [Ed. Note; Thanks to Toothless Dawg who found the new URL. But, IVAW forbids links from TAH (for some reason) you’ll have to paste this URL into your browser; http://www.ivaw.org/node/787], but I wrote about it on May 31st, 2007. I also wrote about the regulation that covered his infraction.

    Finally, Kokesh included one of his DD214s. He used the third one because since he already admitted to the bust, that was the last discharge form he received as an Honorable discharge. But, it’s not his last discharge.

    If you look at block 12b, it says the separation date for that period is November 30, 2006. However in block 6 it says his Reserve Obligation Termination Date is June 18, 2007 so even though he says that’s his last DD214, it’s not. There’s one out there for his final seven months which is not honorable.

    I’m still waiting for his explanation of the racist posters he put up around GWU campus trying to frame a Conservative student group. Or his arrest when he blatantly ignored the laws in front of the Park Police in DC. Or the time he tried to bully us into silence.

  • The post in which TAH defends IVAW’s Kokesh

    I really hate to do this – defending Adam Kokesh, member of IVAW and congressional candidate in New Mexico is probably my least favorite thing. But, I also hate it when people don’t tell the truth inadvertently or otherwise. Free Republic and American Patriots Against Kokesh have a thread questioning Kokesh’s Iraq vet creds. They both use a copy of Kokesh’s DD214 that I posted last year. That DD214 is one of three in his records – the last one. I posted it to prove he was not a sergeant when he was discharged.

    Unfortunately, the amateurs didn’t come to me before they posted the DD214 and Free Republic didn’t link to me so I could help them avoid embarrassment. Here’s the DD214 that proves his service in Iraq.

    kokesh-dd214-iraq-service

    You’ll notice the requisite medals in block 13, 6 months and 24 days of foreign service in block 12f. I also have the narrative for his Navy Commendation Medal for service in Fallujah. These all came as a result of POW Net’s FOIA to the records center.

    Ya know how on television they always tell you tell you not to try stuff you see at home – this is one of those things.

  • Stop-Loss Rapper deploys to Iraq

    Regular readers remember Marc Hall, the “Stop-Loss rapper” and new IVAW member, who complained in his rap song that he was scheduled to deploy to Iraq after his date for leaving the Army. The Army charges that Hall communicated a threat in the song by referring to all of his leadership as targets that would hit the floor when he locked and loaded a thirty round magazine on them. Of course, he sent the CD to the Pentagon in the weeks following Major Nidal Hasan’s attack on scores of soldiers at Fort Hood.

    It seems the Army is preparing to deploy Hall to Iraq and the Leftists are angry.

    Today, Fort Stewart, Georgia officials confirmed that the Army will attempt to separate Spc Marc A Hall from both his civilian legal team and his established military defender Capt. Anthony Schiavetti by sending him to Iraq “within a few days” to face court martial.

    The Army declared that, “The jurisdiction transfer ensures a full and fair trial for both Spc. Hall and the United States.” Nothing could be farther from the truth, at least for Spc. Hall.

    “It is our belief that the Army would violate its own regulations by deploying Marc and it would certainly violate his right to due process by making it far more difficult to get witnesses. It appears the Army doesn’t believe it can get a conviction in a fair and public trial. We will do whatever we can to insure he remain in the United States,” explains attorney David Gespass of Birmingham, Alabama.

    Of course, the Army can send his military lawyer to Iraq with Hall, so they’re really not separating him from his defense team. But the really hilarious part is Veterans Today with their penchant for hyperbole, asks “what is happening to our military justice system;

    gitmo-for-hall

    Yes, we’re going to start throwing our troops in Guantanamo, Hanafin, you mega drama queen. Are you guys still taking hallucinogens after all these years. I’d love to hear your theories about the JFK assassination some time.

    My guess is that most of the witnesses on both sides in the Hall case are deployed to Iraq and it makes more sense to move him there than to send an entire unit back from the war. But I have an email in to his commander to get the real skinny on the reason. Maybe they’re going to tie him to the grill of an MRAP on a clearing operation. I’ll check with Gordon Duff on that.