Have you ever been close to tragedy or been close to folks who have?

[Title of thread provided by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, video at end of post]

A while back Jonn did a story about MacBeth in one of his insane videos. In that video MacBeth talks about an extreme element within IVAW that would engage in direct action. (Like 1:40 in is what you want to see.)

Now, I still think he is largely full of [IVAW] but there are things emerging which make his accusations considerably more plausible. It comes largely from the current civil war raging in IVAW. What started my interest was the part of Casey Porter’s phenomenal resignation letter that Jonn covered here.

For example, Carl Webb places IVAW in a very serious position through his advocacy of radical action from the safety of his keyboard. Advocating of sabotage and other such actions puts other people’s lives at risk and IVAW by not condemning such rhetoric and disassociating itself from persons who advocate sabotage places all members in a compromised position. It now becomes dangerous to any active duty soldier who wants to speak out by giving the Army the ammunition it needs to paint IVAW as a radical and dangerous organization. If it went to trial, all a prosecutor would have to do is point out these posts and that alone could sway a Military Jury into believing the organization is radical and advocates sabotage. And yet, IVAW is silent on Carl Webb and his methods that place other soldiers in harm’s way. There is a time for forgiveness and tolerance, but I cannot be part of an organization that will not take action when a member willfully advocates putting others in harm’s way. By allowing people like Carl Webb to remain a part of IVAW, not only does IVAW have a serious legal issue, it also keeps other potential members from joining.

Further, Porter talked about the same thing in an interview he gave to the Austin Chronicle, where he said:

“I’m honoring the contract. I work hard; I don’t do shortcuts. One person in the anti-war community suggested I do sabotage. Absolutely not. I’m doing this, obviously for the Iraqis but for the other soldiers, because they’re the ones in the wringer.”

The more I read about Casey, the more I am impressed. He didn’t only disavow sabotage; he talked about doing what he was obligated to do. As Robert E. Lee once said: “Duty is the most sublime word in the English Language.”

Webb makes clear in the comments for that article that he is the person in question:

Porter has not made clear his opposition to the war while he willingly follows the contract to kill. I am the person in the anti-war community he refers to that suggested sabotage as an option since deserting wasn’t an option for him. He says “I’m doing this, obviously for the Iraqis but for the other soldiers, because they’re the ones in the wringer.” I’d like to know what logic he’s using to conclude that keeping working tanks on the firing line is somehow helping the Iraqis. Not only am I just in the anti-war community I deserted from the Texas Army National Guard and was one of the very first soldiers to join Iraq Veterans Against the War. I worked on vehicles while on active duty as a fuel and electrical repairman. So I know how easy is to create a grounded wire to drain the battery or a hard to find break in the wiring harness that can keep a vehicle off the road for a long time.

OK, so who exactly is this clown Carl Webb? Well, in short he’s a total assclown. I’m not going to even go into the full history of him, but if you want to read it, scroll down here and you’ll find it. Unfortunately all the links to his DD214 and activation orders are gone, so this is all you get. But, most instructive is this passage:

In addition to the anarchist meetings he started to attend meetings of the only group in Austin that called itself marxist, the International Socialist Organization, which he was already biased against because the people that had invited him to Austin were all ex-members that had left or had been purged from the group. As he disagreed with their theory of state capitalism as opposed to his troskyist beliefs he didn’t get too involved with the group.

Here’s some ridiculous video of someone interviewing him:

According to this indybay article:

While he was in Tennessee, he says he lived off the rest of his $3,000 enlistment bonus and the final checks the Guard sent to his Austin address. For the past three months, the federal government has actually employed him as a census worker in Austin.

Which begs several questions… Why was being paid a bonus while a deserter instead of him paying it back? Why would he still get checks from NG? And why in the F would the Federal Government hire a deserter to do a census in 2006, when the census is decennial and done in 2000 and 2010?

OK, now to the present. Lots of shit going on. And thanks to some friends, we have the facebook discussions of it. So, first off we know that Carl joined out of a sincere love of America, and to pay back the country for all the blessings he had in his life. Or, actually, I guess it was for the money, I get confused on that sometimes.

Anyway, here’s the juicy Facebook conversation that followed, we begin with Webb writing at 2 AM on Wednesday Morning:

Here is Kris Goldsmith’s response, that warms the cockles of my Post-Whoville 2 sizes larger Grinch Heart because he manages to use “Ass clown”, “retard” and “moonbat” in a cogent argument.

Then our dirty hippie nemesis Ranger (of the rump variety) Ward Reilly enters the fray. And Chris Raissi (who I know nothing about) makes an argument we’ve made here several times.

But, Raissi completely won me over with this piece of literary genius, the final sentence of the first paragraph being the stuff of legends:

And finally, a guy we’ve discussed before, Brandon Neely weighs in with some more sanity:

So, there you have it. Certainly in this discussion the good guys are kicking ass and taking names. And I wish them well in doing so, genuinely. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I disagree with the politics of IVAW, but some of these guys aren’t as bad as others. And I believe we should engage in the moderating elements, because on several occasions they keep fruitloops like the Wobbly Nomad and the Viking Sniper at bay a little bit. But from a blogging standpoint, the crazier the better is my motto.

Now, on to the MORE fun stuff. I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on TV, so don’t listen to me, but any lawyers in the house that might take a look at Webb’s comments, I’d like to know what you think of my little friend that I like to call Section 2153 of the United States Code 18, I just love his little section (b):

(a) Whoever, when the United States is at war, or in times of national emergency as declared by the President or by the Congress, with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the United States or any associate nation in preparing for or carrying on the war or defense activities, or, with reason to believe that his act may injure, interfere with, or obstruct the United States or any associate nation in preparing for or carrying on the war or defense activities, willfully injures, destroys, contaminates or infects, or attempts to so injure, destroy, contaminate or infect any war material, war premises, or war utilities, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than thirty years, or both.

(b) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as provided in subsection (a) of this section.

Now, he may be in the clear since we don’t know if he tried to effect the object of the conspiracy by discussing in more detail what he wanted Casey to do, but boy would it be fun if Casey or someone else would forward us some more of those messages, eh? I mean, suppose for instance Webb said “This is what we should do…” that would make my day, and earn you a spot on my much vaunted Christmas Card list.

And now ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Bosstones!

Category: Politics