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

Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War

  • Still think they support the troops?

    The People’s Worker World recounts some testimony from some anti-war dorks speaking in support of the Maoist-founded organization that calls itself Military Families Speak Out. here’s screen shot of the page instead of a link;

    The testimony does nothing but impugn the character of people who join the US military;

    Eugene Cherry joined the army at the age of 19 in the hopes of getting money for college. Despite being a good student, he found his options in his impoverished south side neighborhood limited. “I thought the military would be my ticket out, but I found an organization based on racism, sexism and misogyny” he testified before the assembled audience. Later he spoke of “[a] culture of violence and racism” that the military promotes within its ranks. These pressures proved to be too much for Sherry. He deserted for 16 months after being refused mental health support by the army. “I found myself fighting and oppressing a group of people in the name of the war on terror” concluded his remarks to the gathering.

    The plight of women in the armed forces proved to be a recurring theme. Patricia McCann, a National Guardsman deployed in 2003, noted during her testimony that instances of sexual assault and sexual harassment within the armed forces have risen but court-martials for these crimes have declined. Another veteran (and current Chicago police officer), Lisa Zepeda, added that victims of assault have no outside authority they can report assaults to; a victim must go through her immediate superior within her unit.

    Here’s Cherry from Courage to Resist;

    Here’s McCann (although this profile says she’s an IVAW member, there’s no profile at IVAW in that name)

    I didn’t put up any profile about Zepeda because despite her toxic charges againt commanders, she’s still a cop who deserves a measure of anonymity.

    All of their stories throw fingers directly at the troops. All of them call all of our troops racist, sexist and oppressors. They couch their accusations in terms like “institutional” and “organizational” but those institutions and organizations are run by people – the troops.

    But really selfish? Is the story of Katy Zatsick who blames her divorce on the military when her son was injured in Iraq. And biggest gullible moron?

    Randi Scheurer had two children in the military. Soon after her son was deployed, he called imploring her to purchase a new flack jacket for him. The army had issued him a Vietnam-era jacket that was woefully inadequate for the threats he faced in Iraq. During his second deployment, he again implored his mother to privately purchase equipment that had been stolen from him and that the Army refused to replace. She finally purchased the needed equipment because the Army would not.

    Yeah, Vietnam-era flak vests were all out of the inventory by the mid-80s. TSO has countered that argument here countless times – it was one of the ignorant commercials that VoteVets ran a few years back and it’s been thoroughly discredited. He might have had a kevlar vest from the 80s design – but that was two decades after Vietnam. And the Army is not in the habit of denying the replacement of equipment the troops need. His commander might have made him pay for the equipment, but he wouldn’t have refused to give it to a troop if he needed it to do his job. I noticed she didn’t name the items she replaced.

    But that kind of stuff has become part of the narrative and generally accepted by the ignorant masses. So these clowns, liars and dolts at Military Families Speak Out are just reinforcing the faerie tales. Oh, and they’re in DC this weekend “educating” people about their version of the war.

    Ed. Note: I made the mistake of claiming that IAVA made the ads about the flak vests. Paul Reickhoff of IAVA was kind enough to point out the error and I’ve corrected it. When I mistakes I admit it.

  • IVAW’s Marlissa Grogan perpetuating the lie

    Toni at Bear Creek Ledger emailed me this morning about perpetual traitor Jane Fonda’s new blog and Fonda’s new BFF, former Marine captain Marlissa Grogan. I think this is Grogan in her uniform marching at the DNC Convention in Denver (photo from People’s Press Collective) wearing her ribbons improperly;

    Here’s her profile at IVAW;

    At Fonda’s blog, she perpetuates the lie that many military recruits have to choose between the military and jail time;

    She talked about the similarities that exist between today’s military and those of the Vietnam era but also pointed out the profound differences, citing in particular, the fact that so many recruits are confronted with the choice between jail or military. For many it’s a much needed job. Look how young she is, yet so wise and committed. “We can’t just rely on the hope that Obama has brought us,” she told the audience. “We have to get off our asses and make sure we organize and speak out for what we feel is right.”

    Fonda appears to have learned her lesson from Vietnam and seems to support the troops, but allowing knucklehead liars like Grogan to have a launching pad so they can call the troops hopelessly retarded criminals is just as bad as spitting on them. I’d like to see Grogan’s research on exactly how many troops are given the military as their only escape from prison. She ought to spend some time recruiting.

    I also found this quote from the “wise and committed” Grogan who charges our troops with violating their oaths and being enemies of the Constitution;

    “I look at it in a really concrete way. As an officer, as well as enlisted Marines, we are always charged with the promise to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and right now we’re violating that Constitution, and that’s my main concern,” she said. “We’re going against something that we promised: We’re going against our oath. We’re contradicting the Constitution in a way.”

    I’d like to see her legal brief on that charge.

    Here’s a picture of Grogan hanging out with David Zeiger, the producer of Fonda’s “FTA” Vietnam-era anti-war “documentary” of Fonda and Donald Southerland’s attempts to end that war (I wrote about the movie and the attempts by IVAW to use it as a fundraiser last month);

    I guess this is how Fonda atones for her sins of the Vietnam era – by letting other people spit on the troops for her.

  • Chiroux’ date to answer for his childishness

    An eagle-eyed reader (I only have his real name and I’m not sure he wants me to use it) emailed within an hour after it was posted that Matthis Chiroux, our favorite crybaby from the IVAW says he has a date to answer to the Army for his childish refusal to report for duty;

    March 12, I’ll attend a board hearing in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine what the nature of my discharge from the Individual Ready Reserve will be. The Army has alleged “misconduct” and they’re shooting for a “general discharge,” but I’m pushing for “honorable,” as my refusal to deploy was not an act of misconduct.

    Well, if that’s his defense, that not doing what he’s contractually obligated to do is not misconduct, I hope his mommy gets him plenty of soap-on-a-rope.

    I will be working closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War to plan what we hope will reflect a Winter Soldier event in the form of our members testifying under oath to the military about their experiences in the Global War on Terror.

    Yeah, I’m pretty sure the Army will allow the whole membership of IVAW turn an administrative hearing into a clown show of malcontented buffoons. Maybe Geoff Millard can wear his 3 MSMs and impress the board with his chair and microphone arrangement skills. Or TSO’s favorite droning Powerpoint Ranger, Luis Montalvan, can put the board into a deep and deadly sleep.

    Chiroux looks forward to the opportunity to beclown himself and the members of IVAW;

    The Army in no way has forced this hearing upon me. I demanded this hearing from them to oppose the General Discharge, and I thank them for providing me due process.

    Of course, when the Army doesn’t let them parade the Ship of Fools before the board, there’ll be an outcry of unfairness. And there is no shortage of support from the Democrats in Congress for Chiroux, he claims;

    As I write this, they are penning another letter of support which will be more widely circulated in Congress than the first to be sent to President Obama before my hearing. As well, several Members have expressed interest in appearing in person to voice support for me and troops like me in March.

    Chiroux claims his supporters are from the group who signed a letter of support for him at the height of the BDS outbreak in July. Of course, he claims that the reason Obama hasn’t heard them yet is because of Joe the Plumber;

    We tried to bring this message to President Obama at the final presidential debate. Tragically, Joe the plumber took precedence that evening….

    Damn working American…who the Hell does he think he is letting people talk about him?

    Like anything else, Matthis’ prestige comes with a price;

    We are continuing to gather funds needed to cover travel expenses and accommodation for those who will be testifying. I hope anywhere from fifteen to thirty veterans, military family members, Iraqi civilians and constitutional experts will appear before my board.

    Yeah, send him some money for thirty lay-abouts to get shut out of an Army administrative board, which has no responsibility to hear any testimony from anyone. If this does happen at all (and I have my doubts), the Army is not in the habit of turning their official business into a minor theater performance complete with the bearded lady and lobster boy.

    You can see the fingerprints of civilians all over this thing – those World Can’t Wait Maoists, most likely. I can hear them snickering about him letting them waterboard him and now they double-dog-dared him to act like a pompous jerk in front of some Army officers.

  • FTA: Jane Fonda fundraiser for IVAW

    I read the other day that the anti-war crowd are having trouble raising money because the average anti-war less-whackos are a bit reticent about criticizing the new president’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and less likely to give up their money to fund the more-whackos like IVAW, Code Pink and the old coots at Vets For Peace. So they have to come up with more unique ways of tapping wallets.

    A few weeks ago I found a blurb about the possible return of Jane Fonda to a more active role in the anti-war movement. I sent the blurb to someone who emailed me back a Village Voice article today that verified it;

    How much more proof do you need to recognize that these clowns are trying to relive the 60’s? They’re screening a 37-year-old movie with the 72-year-old actress on hand to yammer about her anti-war antics with some 74-year-old guy who looks strangely like Jack Bauer. I wonder if they’ll have a Depends dispenser in the restrooms for the old coots. But what does all of that have to do with us here at This Ain’t Hell? Well, buried in the short article is this;

    …a portion of the proceeds from the evening will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War, a nonprofit organization that advocates for ending the war and for providing help to returning service members.

    They left out the third bullet of the IVAW’s demands – that being reparations to the Iraqis for all of the hovels that got leveled and all of the “militants” who were forcibly demilitarized.

    It’s probably a bit of irony that the movie originally was released the year before combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and it’s being dusted off as a fund raiser for the Iraq Veterans Against the War the year before combat troops are scheduled to be withdrawn.

    I’m feeling generous today so I caution the IVAW from depending on Fonda for her ability raise money with this from Wikipedia;

    In [1972], Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and, for her efforts, was rewarded with the title of Honorary National Coordinator.
    […]
    Her financial support to VVAW at this time was apparently not significant, as the organization ran out of money within a month, and one of its prominent leaders, John Kerry, was called upon to raise the necessary funds.

    So, if you guys are hoping to get a new club house on Jane’s fund raising abilities, you’d better lower your expectations a bit. Maybe she can raise enough for a down payment on new refrigerator so you can keep your Hot Pockets and your bottles of urine separate.

  • Gitmo alum get promotions after release

    The Australian ABC News is reporting that two Gitmo alum have started their climb up the al Qaeda corporate ladder;

    One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official said.

    Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner number 333.

    Of course, taking their talking points from Amnesty International, they blame their detainment for their life of crime;

    “By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,” al-Shihri was quoted as saying.

    Al-Shiri was transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia in 2007, the US counter-terrorism official said.

    I wonder if our buddy Chris Arendt, of the Emo Brotherhood wing of the Iraq Veterans Against the War was BFF with these two while he was handing out toilet paper in Gitmo.

  • Too many unanswered questions about Chiroux’ narrative [Jonn]

    I’m sure many of my regular readers remember Matthis Chiroux the guy who made a big deal about being recalled by the Army and his refusing to answer the call. This press conference was at the Congressional Offices on the same day as the IVAW’s Congressional testimony to a portion of the Progressive Caucus;

    In October, Chiroux was arrested at the final Presidential debate. I wondered then why he wasn’t turned over to the Army by the Nassau County police and I called them to ask why. The person in the public affairs office said they couldn’t answer the question, but it got me to wondering.

    So I got our good friends at POW Net to get me FOIA request on Chiroux’ record. Keep in mind, if he was in the IRR, I wouldn’t be able to get his records.


    So, because I was even able to get his records proves he’s been discharged. The only thing I can figure is that he initially came in for two years, and then reenlisted for three more years which would negate his three years Individual Ready Reserve Commitment. His Form 2-1 seems to support this. He spent about 2 1/2 years in Japan and then went to Germany for 2 years. I called a recruiter in the area and she confirmed that’s the only way he could avoid the IRR commitment.

    A month ago, he established his “Matthis Resists” website on which he begs for money for his defense fund promising to keep us updated. So far, nuthin’ in the way of “updates”. In fact, he visited the post I wrote about it and had the opportunity to answer my questions about his service, and he was more interested in how I found a picture of him licking Nick Morgan’s chest.

    Clearly, there’s something wrong with his narrative. Has anyone seen this letter from the Army “ordering” Matthis back into the service? We’ve learned here at This Ain’t Hell that nothing these IVAW folks say can be taken at face value. He’s still wandering around loose, the police have no interest in turning him over to the Army. Although he’s trying to collect money for a defense fund, he doesn’t need money to defend himself against the Army in an administrative dispute. And there’s no word from him on when his hearing is scheduled. I think he’s trying to fleece money from his hairy-legged hippie chick groupies (and shaven legged hippie guy groupies).

    In November, I wrote about Chiroux being waterboarded at the UN building by members of World Can’t Wait, the organization founded by Charles Clark Kissinger, the famous Maoist radical. In the lead up to the actual waterboarding of Chiroux, he shouts that he’s an Afghanistan veteran. Yeah, his records show two overseas ribbons one for a completed tour in Japan, the other for a completed tour in German. Nothing about Afghanistan. He claims he was stationed in the Philippines, too – no record of an assignment in the Philippines, either.

    Chiroux paints an extensive deployment history in his IVAW profile;

    Germany, Japan, Afghanistan, Philippines, Italy, Poland – again his records show only assignments to Germany and Japan. As we’ve pointed out countless times, the only reason Chiroux calls himself an Afghanistan veteran is because he flew into Baghram airbase for six days (give or take a few hours) to write an article for the Army. He never left the base and the Army doesn’t recognize his visit as an assignment to Afghanistan. I suspect the other countries where he claims service are along the same lines as his Afghanistan visit.

    I’ve been on longer drunks than he spent in Afghanistan.

    So after reading this particular lie, we have to ask ourselves if he really was recalled by the Army. Or is this just more of the BS we have to filter out in order to fall for the rest of their message.

    I’ve got inquiries out on the letter that the Army sent to Chiroux and I’ll turn up an answer sooner or later, in the interim, Chiroux can cut this whole thing short by providing me a copy of the letter, or admitting it’s all a scam – before I dredge up the proof.

  • Adam Kokesh; not feeling the hope

    The other day, in DuPont Circle at the Shoe Bush protest, the day before the Inauguration, I saw Adam Kokesh, poster child for everything that’s wrong with IVAW, threaten that he was throwing a combat boot at the 30-foot blow-up doll of George Bush on that day, but that he was saving the other boot for Obama. The threat to Obama comes at the end of this six minute video;

    Not waiting for Obama to screw up, Kokesh named Obama a potential war criminal on his website;

    But the whole reason I video’d Kokesh was to catch him calling himself “Sergeant Kokesh”. To his credit, he has stopped that. Below is Kokesh’s DD214 which proves what I’ve been saying the last few years; he’s not a sergeant.

    kokesh-dd214

    So that puts that issue to rest.

    Along with his DD214, the Records Center sent the evidence against Kokesh that the Marine Corps used to downgrade his discharge at the hearing he was forced to attend when he was trolling the National Mall in his uniform pretending to be on patrol in Iraq (not that he ever went on patrol in Iraq). I found the evidence to be quite satisfying since it was an article in the Washington Post with pictures – the same article I used to prove his guilt.

    I’m guessing the article is included with his records so that if he ever tries to upgrade his discharge, the evidence for the denial still exists.

  • Playing with MovieMaker

    I was just sitting around reading a copy of a brand new book (yeah, publicity agents send me books to review these days) about Hugo Chavez and decided to make a video for you to watch and listen. It’s some of my favorite moonbat pictures of 2008 set to Santana and Steven Tyler’s version of “Just Feel Better”.

    Turn up the speakers and get a glass of rum and enjoy.