On that IVAW firebombed bus….

Some of you may remember how the Iraq Veterans Against the War had a bus that burned and the whackosphere, naturally figured that it was some vast cabal of terrorist rightwingers who targeted their broken-down piece of shit bus for a firebombing.

From OpEdNews.com;

Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames. Mr Goodnow speculates that the cause could have been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday morning.

See, I doubted this from the start because of the “Jim saw, in retrospect…” comment. How can a person see in retrospect? You either see or or you don’t see. And the “arson and attempted murder” seemed too good for the mainstream press to just ignore – if it were true.

But the story of good ole Jim, the hippie-turned-bus-driver-turned-CSI-investigator struck a melodic note with the Leftosphere;

I have no trouble believing that someone gave Jim’s bus trouble precisely because of what it was. Do I think it was part of a planned, organized, effort? I don’t know, and to be honest, I doubt it. I rather suspect this took place as a result of a couple people of violent political persuasions, who happened to see the target, said “That Ain’t Right” and decided to do something about it. Spontaneity explains why the fire was able to be put out, and why Jim was able to escape. I don’t think there was a deliberate attempt to murder Jim, but I suspect that the culprits, if in fact my theory is correct, likely didn’t give a thought to his presence either way.

Well, Denis Keohane (who, himself, catalogs quite nicely some of the whackier mind-droppings from the Left) at Obiter Dictum (h/t to Robin at Chickenhawk Express) got tired of waiting for someone to tell him what happened and made a few calls;

Photos of the bus being towed showed that the tow truck belonged to Riehl’s Towing & Maintenance, which I found out was in Clarksboro, NJ. Riehl’s told me that the responders were members of the Carney’s Point Fire Department. When I contacted them, the Deputy Chief told me that there was no arson investigation and would not be. The fire began in the closed engine department and burned outward, and was believed to have been caused by an equipment malfunction or failure. There was no indication of, much less evidence of arson.

They knew that weeks ago. The day after the fire Riehl’s towed the truck to a salvage yard, not a facility where criminal evidence would be kept.

So why has IVAW and others let the story and assumption of an intentional crime linger, when they could have cleared it up?

Well, Denis, that’s because the truth is apparently too boring. It’s much more exciting when the insolent little children of IVAW pretend to be “raging against the machine” – but that machine turns out to be an ill-maintained bus.

I suspect it’s the same kind of disingenuous crap that’ll come out of the Winter Soldier II “hearings”. Stuff that doesn’t fit the message won’t make it into the testimony. The Scott Thomas Beauchamp/New Republic template.

Good detective work, Denis.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Bloggers, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Politics