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

Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War

  • Back to the IVAW Theater

    The street theater that got Adam Kokesh in trouble last summer in DC has been brought to Denver. Pretending they’re on a patrol, IVAW members start face-planting random spectators as if they were suspects in terrorist attacks;

    Suddenly one of the soldiers announced that they were looking for a suspect wearing an orange bandana, who they suspected of planting roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs). At that the GIs began forcing nearby pedestrians face-first up against a wall and yelling at them to “shut the fuck up.” One man was pinned to the ground in what looked like a stress position. The police officers, from Denver and surrounding towns, did nothing. They had been informed days before, one officer told me, that the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were coming to town and preparing to engage in nonviolent street theater on Tuesday and Wednesday. The scared pedestrians pinned to the wall and the sidewalk, I learned, were volunteers. This was all just acting.

    Now, see, here are some more examples of what I’ve been saying for the last six months. IVAW says they support the troops, that they’re only targeting the political leadership, but the political leadership isn’t pinning Iraqis against the wall, or shoving their faces into the pavement. The troops are. The behavior that IVAW claims to be aping is the behavior of our troops. They are intentionally turning public opinion against our warriors to accomplish their political goals. Here’s some video of it;

    [youtube z4LZXm8y-V4 nolink]

    The fellow in uniform in the top picture is wearing a combat patch of the 1st COSCOM (Corps Support Command) which supports the 18th Airborne Corps which, in turn, supports the 101st and 82nd Divisions. This fellow served three echelons behind the front. How many patrols do you suppose he’s been on? My guess is that this was the first time he’d ever seen the process, too. How accurately do you figure he can recreate the effect based on second- or third-hand shit house rumors?

    In the same vein is an article Raoul sent me last night about Adam Kokesh’s latest attempt to smear the troops. He claims that they’re smuggling alcohol into the Iraq theater in violation of their orders. He makes it seem like the practice is wide spread based on his own smuggling practices four years ago. Keep in mind that Kokesh also tried to smuggle an Iraqi pistol back from Iraq, too.

    Now, I don’t know if the practice is wide spread or not, I only know that I’ve never sent alcohol to anyone over there, nor would I if asked. But, Kokesh can only speak about his narrow experiences as well. There’s no way he can broadly paint our troops as closet alcoholics drinking brake fluid behind the motor pool with any accuracy. He can’t get away with recycling the old Vietnam era rumor that our troops were drug addicts in these new days of urinalysis, but he figures he can still make them seem to be substance abusers.

    Before you climb on your high horse, Army Sergeant, think about what these disingenuous portrayals of our soldiers and Marines are doing to their mental health now and down the road.

    And crap like this from Kokesh doesn’t help much either;

    [youtube AYPVujav9PQ nolink]

  • On the periphery of the Convention

    There’s an awful lot of stuff on this convention that’s not showing up on the news, so I thought I’d troll around around a bit and bring back some of the news you might have missed.

    Here’s the IVAW misfits in their class photo (yes, I see you, AS);

    Ace of Spades has AliceH on the job getting video and still of the event. You can go to her YouTube channel (and see fake waterboarding demonstrations) or to her photo blog to see the latest. Photos like this (that make parents so proud);

    The Funk the War protest conducted by IVAW among the Code Pinks and assorted anarchists was videoed by a freelancer in Denver. You can watch this video about the horrible police state in which we’re living narrated by a bunch of spoiled brats who aren’t being arrested and tossed in jail.

    [youtube 6CLsVbD1ox4 nolink]

    The Weekly Standard‘s Jonathan V. Last tells us about the police state inside the Convention. From the American Prospect’s blog TAPPED, we find out not all of the delegates are pleased about Obama getting the nomination;

    You have a Hillary shirt and a John McCain button.

    Karen Brown: She was my first choice. Now I’m going to vote for McCain.

    Why?

    KB: I don’t like Senator Obama. His choices are all wrong. I feel secure with John McCain.

    Where do you feel McCain and Hillary have overlap that Obama doesn’t?

    KB: I feel that Hillary would make me also feel safe as far as terrorism goes while I think Obama would be thinking about it. As he said in an interview, I’ll “confront evil.” John McCain said I’ll “defeat” evil. I feel Hillary would’ve said the same thing. I want to feel safe here in America.

    And a photo to go along with the transcript;

    My mentor, Zombie, is still on the job, of course, sending out photos that will be the hallmarks of this cluster in Denver;

    UPDATED: Zombie got in too deep last night.

  • IVAW drama queens in Denver

    Army Sergeant complains that the Denver Police are looking for potential “direct action” perpetrators. I guess this little monument to drama completely escaped the police;

    Here are the anti-war heroes of the IVAW in Denver. All the Left loves them.

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  • Moonbattery reaches new heights

    When a small city is packed with news cameras and satellite trucks, it’s inevitable that every crackpot with something to say will show up, and that’s what we’ve got in Denver this week. Folks we haven’t heard in so long are busting ass to Denver so’s they can get in front of the cameras.

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  • Counter-Convention looking good

    ComeuptoDenver.org has been begging “progressive social change groups” from across the country to do just that for the Democrat Convention this week, and it seems that every one without a job is complying;

    And the police seem happy, too;

    PBR seems to be the beverage of choice for the sign-makers at Tent State.

    And Veterans For Peace are just there to be in rallies – it doesn’t matter what the rally is for or against (CBS4 Link);

    Robert McLaughlin held aloft a banner supporting abortion rights. He avoided eye contact with a man with a guitar who belted out an anti-abortion song: “It’s a baby, not a molecular glob!”

    McLaughlin tried to ignore the heated exchanges around him, shifting his weight between his feet and looking like he was trying to find his ride home.

    “I don’t know. It’s weird,” said the decorated 67-year-old former staff sergeant, wearing a “Veteran for Peace” T-shirt at the dueling rallies Saturday outside the Planned Parenthood of the Rockies’ headquarters.

    McLaughlin is one of several thousand demonstrators in Denver for the Democratic National Convention that begins Monday. When pressed why he was a counter-demonstrator at an anti-abortion rally, he confessed it was his first one.

    “I’m really here to protest the Iraq war,” he said.

    But in the meantime, you can hold a poster supporting infanticide while you’re waiting for the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Pathetic, actually.

    In the meantime, police are on the lookout for Weapons of Mini-Destruction;

    Denver police are on the lookout for stockpiles of a dozen items ranging from pipes to bikes — things they say could be used to disrupt the Democratic National Convention next week.

    A police bulletin sent to officers and other emergency workers asks them to look out for “medium and large numbers” of things that violent demonstrators could use as weapons.

    Also on the list are shields, helmets, gas masks, chest protectors used in baseball or softball, protest sign handles, hand-held radios, chemicals and maps.

    Police said some of the items on the list have been used by protesters before during demonstrations at events like the DNC.

    Not from people like Wayward Bill, the top photo in this post, who writes at his blog “Deadheads United”;

    (ps; Don’t forget Counter Delegates that while you are in Denver, your surname is Amerika. Afterall aren’t we all Amerikans!)

    Well, you sure are, Bill.

  • 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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