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

Category: Usual Suspects

  • The odd case of Terry C. Holdbrooks

    Olga sent me a recent article about Terry C. Holdbrooks who I wrote about last month in a post about Guantanamo guards. I wanted to check out his story so I asked the good folks at POW Net to get his records for us. Well, they came back and I know even less about him than I did before I asked for his records. He was in the 463rd MP company who were in Guantanamo during the period he claims he was there, but other than that his record is a big blank. Don’t believe me? Look for yourself – this how his Form 2-1 looked when I got it;

    It’s almost all blackened out. Well, here’s the story he tells Newsweek;

    At Holdbrooks’s next station, in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he says things began to unravel. The only place to kill time within miles of the base was a Wal-Mart and two strip clubs—Big Daddy’s and Big Louie’s. “I’ve never been a fan of strip clubs, so I hung out at Wal-Mart,” he says. Within months, Holdbrooks was released from the military—two years before the end of his commitment. The Army gave him an honorable discharge with no explanation, but the events at Gitmo seemed to loom over the decision. The Army said it would not comment on the matter.

    Yeah, there are plenty of Muslims in the Army who don’t get harassed and tossed out early. The way his record looks and the way the Army isn’t commenting makes me think he was up to something. If you read my first post about him, you’ll notice he demeans Christians and the United States because we’re mostly Christians.

    Holdbrooks tones it down for Newsweek making himself seem more of a sympathetic character than he did for the UC Davis Human Rights Project on Guantanamo.

    Oh, yeah, I have my doubts about his claim that he was discharged two years early. According to his FOIA, he did three years;

    But it was an odd number of months. As near as I can tell from his Form 2-1, he went to basic and AIT at Leonard Wood in December 2002, the his unit and Guantanamo from July 2003 – June 2004 and then he was discharged October 2005. The Army blocked out his Duty MOS so I don’t know what his job was while he was stationed at Leonard Wood, but if he was acting as nutty as it seems he was acting at Guantanamo (I’m sorry but all night chats with prisoners is just nutty), I’m sure the Army was a little reticent about letting him patrol the post with a loaded handgun and a badge. And hanging out at WalMart isn’t normal behavior, either.

    Anyway, maybe someone from his unit can fill in the blanks for us.

  • More Chiroux blather

    TSO sent me link to Matthis Chiroux’ latest yammerings about his upcoming hearing THAT HE DEMANDED from the Army. Yes, he demanded it – otherwise they would have just sent him his discharge – but Chiroux, prima donna that he is, sees this as a fund raising opportunity and a chance to strut in front of a new audience;

    First and foremost, the Army has made a motion, “to prevent any discussion in opening statement, questioning of witnesses or in argument concerning the constitutionality of the Global War on Terrorism (“GWOT”), or other Soldiers’, family members’, or Iraqi civilians’ experiences in GWOT.”

    Furthermore, it appears as little surprise to me, the military is reading my website [Hi troops. Resist!], and is planning to use its contents against me in the hearing, which I’m not upset about because it means they’re going to engage me on the issues.

    So we’re going to demonstrate how short sighted that motion is, and then afterward, we’re going to have a Winter Soldier where the veterans and our supporters will resurrect our first casualty of our war which is truth. A truth the Army would rather not hear when it’s Soldiers do what is true.

    It’s an administrative hearing, not a trial. The Army gets to set the conditions of the testimony – especially since Chiroux is forcing the Army to stage this for him. I’ll remind readers what my informer (who, by the way, has since identified themselves to me, and I’ve verified their relationship to Chiroux) wrote to us last week;

    However, I do know that his “duty” in Heidelberg consisted of insubordination to his superiors and smoking pot on a daily basis. As a fellow servicemember, I have to admit his work ethic was terrible. How he was promoted to sergeant is even further beyond me. And, finally, the fact that he boasts about his honorable military service is simply disgusting.

    The last that I’ve heard, Chiroux spent almost his entire endowment on pot and has virtually nothing left to pay the lawyer working on his case. His behavior has become increasingly aggressive toward the people whom he had dubbed his friends. Furthermore, his greatest means of achieving financial aid is by his manipulation of women.

    Now, in his latest post announcing the April 21st hearing date, Chiroux says his last JAG lawyer volunteered to go to Iraq, and that the latest lawyer has promised he won’t deploy. So why is Chiroux begging for money for his defense? JAG lawyers don’t charge for their services, do they? I mentioned this when he first started begging. In his defense missive the other day, he doesn’t mention that his JAG lawyer is free;

    Every dime that has been donated to IVAW for my defense remains with IVAW and will be spent on my hearing as is required by law.

    How will it be spent on his hearing when he’s got a free JAG lawyer? Does he mean that it’ll be spent on some pot before the hearing and buying costume jewelry to tempt some airhead tart to his hotel room?

    Here’s a screen capture of the blog page in case he changes it later;

    TSO sends this video, the message of which Chiroux should keep in mind while he’s defrauding contributors;

    Anyone in the St Louis area should organize a counter-demonstration to the meth-freaks who are sure to show up to support this dork.

  • ANSWER March on the Pentagon

    Since the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War was the other day, ANSWER and it’s assorted affiliates of beggars, drama queens and ne’er-do-wells picked today out of the air to hold their March on the Pentagon.

    Brian Becker, the national coordinator for ANSWER said it’s important because it’s the first anti-war protest in the Post-Bush Era. So here’s the photos

    This was the most appropriate thought – a bumper sticker on the back of a coat;
    ANSWER 057

    Uncle Jimbo got some interviews in like this one with Code Pink
    ANSWER 043

    The Socialists are here – and at least one is appealing:
    ANSWER 046
    (more…)

  • IVAW’s Chiroux responds

    In reference to the post I wrote from someone who knows Chiroux, another anonymous commenter sent me this from Chiroux who was writing in response to another series of posts that were broadcast around the internet from a fellow IVAW member (actually the one that TSO quoted here). Whoever sent it to me, thought that this would absolve Chiroux of charges of wrong doing. Heh, they don’t know me too well, do they? So here’s Chiroux’ email to IVAW;

    My response as well as that of our entire organization should be complete condemnation for whichever member wrote and shared this piece of libel.

    First off, I HAVE NEVER defrauded any of my supporters in any way shape or form. Every dime that has been donated to IVAW for my defense remains with IVAW and will be spent on my hearing as is required by law. As far as donations made to me personally or through my paypal (which have yet to exceed $1,000), the portion I have spent has been on professional expenses only as IVAW has not provided me any compensation for phone, travel or materials since early last fall, which does in fact exceed the amount donated to me by my individual supporters.
    (more…)

  • Obama; Incompetent or dishonest?

    Steven Dinan of the Washington Times notices a disturbing pattern of Obama aides running interference for the President in the recent spate of missteps of his administration;

    To hear his camp tell it Thursday, President Obama has been in the dark on his administration’s controversial efforts to force veterans to use their private insurance for treatments and to clear the way for large bonuses to be paid to the executives of the failed insurance giant AIG.

    Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was the latest to offer the president-didn’t-know defense, suggesting to a Minnesota audience that Mr. Obama was “unaware” of the veterans plan until the president floated it to veterans groups leaders this past Monday and stirred a major controversy.

    Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner joined the bandwagon, saying it was he and not the president who deserved the blame for letting the bonuses to American International Group Inc. proceed.

    “It’s my responsibility,” Mr. Geithner said, taking the blame just days after the White House leaked reports that it didn’t know about the bonuses until after they were issued.

    I noticed the same thing when The Hill reported that the president wasn’t present at the 1PM meeting with the Veterans Service Organization when Rahm Emanuel told the VSOs that the plan was being withdrawn. It looked like the President was being kept insulated from the issue that suddenly became toxic.

    The fact remains that we have two conclusions that we can choose from in regards to this meltdown of the administration – is the president incompetent or dishonest?

    In St. Cloud, Mr. Biden, responding to a veteran’s question, blamed budget bean counters for trying to save money with the care proposal that died Wednesday after an outcry from lawmakers from both parties and veterans groups.

    So Obama couldn’t hear the words that were coming out of his mouth? Or did Emanuel have his hand up Obama’s backside manipulating his mouth? That’s not the way some in the room remembered the meeting;

    Mr. Obama “refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it,” [American Legion Commander David K.] Rehbein added.

    So some invisible, nameless “bean counter” gets the blame for something that was clearly an executive decision made in the Oval Office.

  • Behind the IVAW Music; Matthis Chiroux

    Last night Tankerbabe sent me this link to a blog post about a protest in New York City against “the war” and she pointed out that Matthis Chiroux was there. This morning I find a link from LT Nixon to a New York Times article about the same protest – it also mentions Chiroux.

    Our interest in him goes back to the day that he announced his intention to disregard the letter he supposedly received from the Army ordering him to report for duty from his Individual Ready Reserve commitment. We’ve also checked out his somewhat spotty record and his false claim that he is an “Afghanistan veteran”.

    But there is someone who wants to let everyone know the truth about Matthis Chiroux This person has been in email contact with me intermittently over the last few weeks. Whoever it is claims that they’ve known Chiroux for the last few years since he was stationed in Germany.
    (more…)

  • Daily malcontent news

    Someone sends this video from France24 of Andre Shepherd, our favorite refugee awaiting the decision of the German government on his status. The French are probably just glad he didn’t seek refugee status with them.

    Tankerbabe got rambunctious last night and sent us two tips, one about a derelict in Washington state who the judge wouldn’t bring himself to put in jail, despite the fact that the boy seriously needed it;

    A former Pacific reserve police officer was sentenced Tuesday to probation and morality counseling for false claims of military honors.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian A. Tsuchida in Seattle told 57-year-old Steve A. Bennest of Sumner that his actions were demeaning to veterans.

    Documents filed in court show Bennest repeatedly claimed orally and in writing that he had been awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for military heroism. Records show he served in the Army in 1969-72 but was not awarded those medals.

    They need to turn Bennest over to a group of veterans for his “counseling”. Some of those guys from the Patriot Guard Riders would probably take the job.

    A group of legislators from Canada made the trip to San Diego to visit Robin Long in the brig;

    Parliamentarians Olivia Chow and Borys Wrzesnewskyj traveled to the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego, where Long was serving a 15-month sentence after pleading guilty last August to a reduced charge of desertion.

    During the 45-minute meeting, the government officials were not allowed to take notes or record the interview. Chow said Long appeared in good spirits and did not complain, but told them that he missed his young son in Canada.

    “My heart sank, it was very heavy,” Chow said after the meeting. “I was angry that Canada deported him.”

    I’m angry that you deported the loser, too. You should have kept him and tried to get him to work off the money he cost the Canadian tax payers. Now he’s down here suckin’ off our wallets.

  • Obama/Emanuel/Shinseki walk back from VA insurance plan

    Sources tell us that the White House called the Veteran Service Organization representatives back for a meeting at 1 PM today to announce that they’re backtracking on their proposal to force veterans into health insurance to pay for service-connected treatment. Despite the fact that the Obama/Emanuel/Shinseki team made it clear that they couldn’t be persuaded, somehow they got persuaded. I guess when their own Congress turned against them, they figured it wasn’t worth the political capital they’d have to expend.

    ADDED: Here’s the press release from the American Legion;

    The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization applauded President Obama for dropping his plan to bill private insurance companies for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries.

    “We are glad that President Obama listened to the strong objections raised by The American Legion and veterans everywhere about this unfair plan,” said National Commander David K Rehbein of The American Legion. “We thank the administration for its proposed increase in the VA budget and we are always available to assist by providing guidance to ensure a veterans health care system that is worthy of the heroes that use it.”

    Following a meeting this afternoon with The American Legion and other veterans service organizations, the White House announced that it will no longer consider billing insurance companies or veterans for their service-connected disabilities.

    “Although we disagreed with the proposal, additional revenue streams are needed by VA,” Rehbein said. “I strongly encourage Congress and the administration to allow VA to begin billing Medicare for the treatment of Medicare-eligible nonservice-connected veterans. They paid into Medicare for their entire working careers and should be able to use it in the medical system that was built specifically for them.”

    With a current membership of 2.6 million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and the mentoring of youth. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

    As I said this morning, whether it would have passed or not, it’s just one more example of the extent that the Obama Administration will go to screw veterans and the military to divert taxpayer money to use to buy votes.

    Right out of the box, on Inauguration evening, on bad advice from one of his supporters, he ended a 56-year tradition of the President visiting the living Medal of Honor recipients at the ball held in their honor. Next, he ended the 18-year-old ban against the media making props of our returning casualties from war at Dover Air Force Base.

    And then Obama/Emanuel/Shinseki want to fund their vote buying on the backs of wounded veterans. Is there anything left that we veterans and military service members hold more dear than the things Team Obama seem to hold in such low regard? Why are any veterans, like John Soltz, still carrying water for the Administration which seems to despise everything we stand for, the reasons we serve(d), the reasons we stay engaged.

    Last August, Obama made the comment that he needed to earn the troops’ trust. It doesn’t seem that it’s particularly important to him now that the election has ended. During the campaign, he said he wanted to add 65,000 people to the ranks of the military – how is he going to accomplish that while he simultaneously takes away their benefits – the things that make them willing to risk their lives and limbs accomplishing their inherently dangerous missions? Who’ll stay, who’ll join under those conditions?

    Honestly. What’s next? Are families going to get a bill for bringing their service member home in a casket?

    ADDED a link from Ed Morrissey on the walk-back.