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

Category: Usual Suspects

  • Jason Lemieux: then and now

    I was in the committee meeting room when Jason Lemieux testified to Congress at the Winter Soldier hearings. It was almost word-for-word what he said at the original WSII hearings in Silver Spring, MD. At the time I wrote;

    Jason Lemieux followed Kelly. He was discharged in 2006 – before General Petraeus took command. He began with the standard illegal war blather and testified to the destruction of property. His Rules of Engagement (ROE) were that he should shoot Iraqis that made him uncomfortable and he claimed that excessive force was routine.

    Lemieux recounted one incident, and began the story with the standard “I don’t remember the date”. His unit returned fire with thousands of rounds and Lemieux called it indiscriminate (even though he was in the headquarters and only heard the rounds being fired and didn’t witness the actual fire fight). IVAW seems to be fixated on destroyed buildings. Probably because most were so far from the action, all they got to see was destroyed buildings. He went on to say that troops aren’t fighting for democracy, or the flag, or the country…just for their own safety and that somehow makes them dangerous to Iraqis. We can only hope the Iraqis realize that.

    Three years later, almost to the day, Lemieux is again in the news, this time it’s Fox News;

    “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t have joined the Marine Corps,” Jason Lemieux, a veteran and soon-to-be graduate, said. “It just wouldn’t have happened.”

    And you repay the Corps by testifying to the “Out of Iraq Caucus” that the Marine Corps was running around Iraq firing indiscriminately at buildings and people? Nice.

    I mean I’m glad for Jason that he went on with his life and has done something besides be another Bill Perry or Ward Reilly, but, why did he have to shit all over the people who he now credits for his success?

  • IVAW on the death of bin Laden

    Jose Vasquez, the executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War released a quixotic statement last week to temper our celebration of the death of Usama bin Laden;

    As service members and veterans who have experienced the Global War on Terror firsthand, we respectfully encourage the American people to consider the killing of Bin Laden with a measure of restraint. His death is only a symbolic victory. Although there is no doubt Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians, the path chosen by the Bush administration following 9/11 and continued under President Obama’s watch has cost us more than any one terrorist mastermind ever could. While it is right to remember those who died on 9/11, we should also be equally mindful of all those who have died as a result of our misguided wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The number of U.S. troops killed has topped 6,000 and estimates of civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan range in the hundreds of thousands.

    First of all, a reader should remember that Jose Vasquez was a reservist when the war began that September morning ten years ago. When he was called to serve in Iraq, he refused to deploy as a medic – arguably a non-combatant. At the time, Vasquez made the statement that he would have deployed to Afghanistan – the war that he considered “just”. Now suddenly, there is no war in Iraq, so as the head of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, he has turned against the war in Afghanistan, too. Probably because there’s no war in Iraq to oppose.

    Secondly, as countless posts on this blog has proven, a goodly number of members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War haven’t “experienced the Global War on Terror firsthand” – many haven’t even set foot outside of the continental United States in uniform. Jose’s predecessor, Alex Bacon, went AWOL from the Coast Guard while he was stationed in Hawaii.

    I guess they miss President Bush, too, because they’re still complaining about “Bush’s War”. bin Laden started the war, and nothing can change that, not weasel words and trying to garner sympathy by calling yourselves “Iraq veterans” when they’re less Iraq veterans than I am. I’ve actually carried loaded weapons while in uniform in Iraq – how many members of IVAW can say that?.

  • Matthis in Philly HS last week

    TWo of my ninjas sent us this link to “We Are Not Your Soldiers” anti-recruiting efforts in a Philadelphia High School last Wednesday. Notice at about 4:50 into the video, Samantha goldman walks into the classroom and the camera follows her capturing some of the students’ faces.

    You don’t have to watch the video, it’s the same old “poverty draft” blather. At about 8:40 Matthis tells the students that he was suicidal after he got out of the military “because of what I experienced”. I guess the Baskin Robbins at Bagram ran out of Rocky Road one day.

    By the way, I have the collection of photos that Matthis circulating as proof that he went “outside the wire” during his six days in Afghanistan. I’d like someone who has been there to evaluate the pictures. If you want to see them, email me and I’ll send them to you. It looks to me that he didn’t get too far outside the wire, though. And how far can you get in six days?

    Here’s a sample;

  • Dhimmi Ann Wright

    While Israel is busy battling protesters who breached the country’s borders on five sides this weelend, ANSWER and Ann Wright (you can see her records at that link) are planning to open a sixth front from the sea. Here’s Wright surrounded by the people who would behead her given half a chance;

    The last time Wright went on one of these flotillas, Israeli commandos attacked the boats. We can only hope that this time they’ll just sink the flotilla. Here’s a YouTube video of Wright announcing her intentions to invade a sovereign country in violation of it’s laws.

    You have a great opportunity to send her your money so she can go off on this fool’s errand to appease Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

    Thanks to Tom for the links.

  • Matthis to speak to your kids at your schools next week

    There’s some information on We Are Not Your Soldiers next tour dates, but it’s not clear and it may be a counter-intel operation. We know that Elaine Brower is a regular here because she shuts down the videos we embed, so this may be a stunt to make us look foolish, but here goes;

    Monday, May 16th: High School of Staten Island, has invited Matthis Chiroux and Joe Urgo to speak in four different classrooms. The school is located in a very conservative area of the most republican borough of New York City. However, thanks to a very progressive teacher of High School Seniors, Maria, we will be there talking to the students about the horrors of war.

    Wednesday, May 18th: New Jersey Convent High School, located in Bergen County, New Jersey, again Matthis and Joe, along with anti-war military mom, Elaine Brower, will be speaking to two classes of High School students. If you are a student in the New Jersey area, please contact Susan, who is a teacher there, at 917-520-0767, and ask to have the tour come to your school!

    There is no “High School of Staten Island” Nor is there a “Convent High School” there are high schools on Staten Island (Elaine Brower’s home by the way) and there is a high school in Convent Station, NJ in Bergen County.

    My concern is that Brower put it on their website – they never do that. I’d be less suspicious if she just emailed me the dates.

    But thanks to one of my ninjas for the link.

  • Matthis still in your school talking to your kids

    In an article posted today on the “We Are Not Your Soldiers” website, Matthis brags about how he converted some students to his anti-recruiter campaign in Manhattan earlier;

    Matthis, explained that recruiters will prey on the youth, as young as it takes to get them interested in joining the “delayed entry program” so that by the time they graduate high school, they are taken off to basic training. At basic training young children are taught tactics to de-humanize the “enemy”, who, at this point in history, are the Muslim population around the world.

    The students were fascinated by the discussion, and many had decided to wear the “We Are not Your Soldiers” bandanas, and to confront the recruiters when they approach them. They also decided to form a student group that will plan to keep recruiters out of the school, and away from their friends.

    Talk about instilling irrational fears. It’s not like the military kidnaps children off the street. Or drive a paddy wagon up to the high school graduation ceremonies and force the newly-minted graduates off to far-away basic training centers.

    I never saw “young children” when I was at basic training. I saw young men – probably because old men make poor soldiers. The military doesn’t want you if you don’t want to be there. And I’d like to know how we were “taught tactics to dehumanize the enemy”.

    My impression is that this program lies a damn sight more than any recruiting battalion ever could lie.

    Thanks to one of my ninjas for the link.

  • Kokesh fully embraces DADT repeal

    Tell me that doesn’t look like the banner for a gay dating website.

    One of my ninjas who is upset that Kokesh keeps sending him shit sent that to us. I explained that TSO and i were tossed onto his mailing list, too. Somehow we got removed when we used old blog posts to sabotage his campaign.

  • Matthis in your school talking to your kids (Video updated)

    This is from a session Matthis had with high school students in Brattleboro Union High School in Brattleboro, Vermont [(802) 257-7335 131 Fairground Rd, Brattleboro, VT];

    Elaine Brower changed the settings on the original video so we couldn’t watch it, but, thanks to NotSoOldMarine who sent me a copy of the video, I put it back on YouTube and updated the description;

    Notice that he’s still allowing people to call him an “Afghanistan veteran” without correcting them. I wonder what parents would say if they knew a drug-addled, admitted rapist was in their schools trying to influence their children.