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.
So the IVAW has retooled their message. One of my readers, Raoul, sent me this article from the Associated Press;
Several members of the anti-war group attended a news conference at the state Capitol, including Justin Cliburn of Lawton, an Oklahoma Army National Guard member who went to Iraq in 2005.
The protesters criticized politicians for saying they support the troops, while voting against legislation to upgrade military equipment sent to Iraq and take care of veterans’ medical needs when they return home.
They said that contrary to what is seen in news reports, most Iraqis do not support “the American occupation” of their country.
“The Iraqis told us, ‘Look, I know you have good intentions here, but you’re messing up our lives,'” said Jason Hurd of Asheville, N.C., an Army veteran and medic who was deployed in Baghdad in 2004.
Kristofer Goldsmith of Long Island, N.Y., spoke of attempting suicide after becoming disillusioned in Iraq.
Goldsmith said more needs to be done to help returning veterans with medical problems, including post traumatic stress disorder.
“The best way to support the troops is to keep them alive when they get back,” he said
.
Jason Hurd, at Winter Soldier broke down and cried telling the story about how he ALMOST shot a woman who wouldn’t stop at his command to halt. He was trying to portray the Rules of Engagement as heartless…but the ROE worked when he didn’t have to shoot the woman. Now, even though he left Iraq over three years ago, he acts as if he has his finger on the pulse of Iraqi opinions.
Kristofer Goldsmith hasn’t been in Iraq since 2005. He was chaptered from the Army for bad conduct. He testified to Congress that he joined the Army because he’d always wanted to kill Arabs and the recruiters took advantage of him. Now, instead of portraying our troops as heartless killing machines ruthlessly tethered to an abstract rule, Goldsmith says we need to care for them when they get back.
I don’t deny that line. We do need to commit all of the resources necessary to making sure our troops get the care they need, but IVAW is not the entity to carry that message. They’ve spent the last year trying to undermine our troops’ mental health, trying to turn the country against our troops. And, yes, General Petreaus is one of the troops.
I sat in the Winter Soldier hearings and listened to story after story about how ruthless our troops were, how cavalier they were about employing firepower, how heartless their commanders were towards the Iraqis. I listened to Geoff Millard call the troops racists, Jason Lamieux accused them of fudging combat reports, James Gilligan accused them of abusing civilians and looting, Adam Kokesh accused them abusing detainees.
And now they think they can change their message to one of caring? Who can believe a word that falls from their cankered, twisted mouths at this point.
Crossposted at Talons! Eagles Up!
Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Still haven’t figured out what IVAW is good for. Interesting post, Jonn. I was wondering what direction they would head when WS2 fizzled spectacularly. Now I know.
It seems that one of the perequisites to membership in the IVAW is to be a confirmed Loser. Joined the Army to kill Arabs,,,,,,,, Couldn’t make it in Basic Combat Training,,,,,, Refused a lawful order to deploy,,,,,,,, Losers the lot of them, from almost a private Jesse to Lt Whatever his name is. I thank God that I count among my friends, the troops here at 6th RANGER Training Battalion and their families. It must really be depressing to sit around with a bunch of fellow cowards and discuss how the troops, (that they secretly idolize for just having the balls to stand up), are not doing the right thing. Just Losers, losers, losers.
nuf sed
Unfortunately, the military like any other profession has its small share of shitebirds. They are always the most vocal and say what those that do not like the military to begin with, want to hear. Hopefully, future Americans will judge them harshly and shun them.
Not the only traitor in the public, less than a minute of Hussein O’s speach and you’ll wonder just who he is serving:
the USA needs a Wake-up call.
http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2008/06/08/obama-wants-to-protect-america/
This is absolutely shocking & reprehensible. He plans to unilaterally disarm our nation. The question is… for what? And more specifically, for whom ?!!!!!!!!
This is really low, Jonn. Fortunately, thanks to Ramstein’s hotspot, I was able to catch this while I was waiting to get on a manifest.
IVAW has always supported veteran’s healthcare, as evidenced by the panels about Veteran’s Healthcare at Winter Soldier. I don’t remember if that was one that you and TSO skipped out on along with my panel, Breakdown of the Military, another panel that suggested that most of the troops are good but the quality of the military is being destroyed by shortsighted measures caused by the Iraq War.
This is nothing new.
Your noticing it is new.
It’s always been one of our major points of unity.
Jonn wrote: Oh, if you mean the hour I sat there and listened to a mother and father complain that their son didn’t get the treatment he needed because he refused to get help, yeah, I was there. I half-listened because I know if Bush had sent the men in white coats to their basement and forcibly took their son in for treatment, they’d have been complaining about that, too. And from their tale of woe, I got the impression that was the only way their son could have been treated. Their complaints were just for the Bush-bashing crowd to tsk-tsk.
Don’t give me that high and mighty bullshit about IVAW really supporting treatment for the troops. The IVAW has contributed more to the debasement of the troops than they ever have been for help for them. I didn’t hear one word from Kokesh and company demanding better healthcare while waving an upside down flag from the wall of the National Archives. All I heard was intellectually vacant pleas for impeachment – political expediency. Please keep your sanctimonious bullshit to a minimum.
It’s the old “throw shit at the wall till something sticks!” kind of politics to me.
The problem: their shit won’t stick.
Sorry boys back to the cave to rethink this one.
Scrapiron
Really…When other groups of Vets have spoken out or been tools against the war they served in, I saw nothing that would make me think that they are winners. They change the side of the coin so it suits them. Brandon Freidman ring a bell? He seems to rewrite histroy as much as the IVAW. The thing is if these asshat groups want to help the troops they should keep the political spew out of it. Forget what they think and fukking DO something besides whine. Pete Hegseth, Mike Yon, Blackfive and others didn’t like all the negative press, so they DID something. Melanie Morgan of MoveAmericaForward, Patti Patton Bader of SoldiersAngels DID something. WTF don’t you get? They need to put their money where their mouth is.
We can’t have our troops and vets standing tall and proud, can we? We’ve got to find some way of reducing them to compliant dependents of the social organizers. Send them back home as geldings. (/sarc) FIJFI
Lest you forget Ms AS, I even offerred to aid one of the individuals in my civilian capacity, but you neglected to pass along the information so I had to contact him on my own. So don’t try this line of attack.
Guys,
Army Sergeant = The Immaculate Deception
TSO:
So then you more than anyone should know that we do care about vet’s healthcare and there were real problems being expressed.
Also, please don’t make it sound like I just didn’t care enough to pass your card on, when you know how insane it was during Winter Soldier. As I recall, I thanked you very much, and expressed how glad I was that you could forget partisan politics and try to help a veteran, and I wished that sort of thing could happen often as it was the best of both sides.
Army Sergeant needs the Waaaaaaaaambulance!
nuf sed
Hey A/S,
Guys like TSO and Chris Hill have been helping vets with problems long before there was a war you oppose.
And they weren’t sitting in the front row of the temple and bragging about it.
Raoul:
I would have agreed with you, if you’d only left Chris Hill out. TSO is good people, even if he goes off to crazytown every now and again and loves WoW a little too much.
A/S,
Why leave Hill out, he’s been doing “Stand Downs” long before IVAW existed.
That was a cheap shot.
Army Sergeant,
The problem with the ‘health care’ bandwagon the IVAW hopped on, is that 99.9% of their (your)agenda involves just how badly problem children can behave in front of cameras, and denigrate the armed forces, to boot.
Peddle your bullshit to those who don’t know any better.
Raoul: Because Chris Hill, unlike TSO, doesn’t seem to believe in decent treatment of vets if they’re against his political beliefs. TSO will mock vets that don’t agree with him mercilessly, but he will still advocate for them, though it pains him.
However, if you show me evidence that this is just posturing and he really supports all vets, I will rethink my position.
Me, I don’t ask someone’s political beliefs before I give them a hand. The very idea is honestly repugnant to me.
Me, I don’t ask someone’s political beliefs before I give them a hand. The very idea is honestly repugnant to me.
Your fanatical loyalty to IVAW makes the above statement all about posturing, NOT SUPPORT.
Leave either the Army or IVAW and perhaps I will rethink my position on your character.
AS – Gathering of Eagles & Chris Hill > Fighting the Insurgency at Home > IVAW & CODE PINK
A/S,
This is another case of you being Sargeant Schultz and not seeing what’s right in front of your nose.
There’s a routine “vets for vets” event in Philadelphia commonly called a “stand down” where they take over the armory in the NE and bring together all the resources that vets in dire circumstances need.
The guy is committed and involved in that for longer that you have been posturing with IVAW.
“Me, I don’t ask someone’s political beliefs before I give them a hand. The very idea is honestly repugnant to me.”
Then you must be repugnant because you already did that.
Raoul: Name when. Name one instance I’ve denied a vet in need because they were for the war. Also, yes, I’ve only been doing this for about a year and a half, but should that stand against me? I’m here now, and I’m committed to doing what’s right.
mtngrandpa: I do not understand your strange math!
Army Sergeant,
Name the last time I waxed the car. Like your question, it’s irrelevant to the question at hand.
You trashed Hill, someone who does more for vets in need than you do.
Year and a half, how long after Benedict Arnold switched sides till they figured it out?
AS – Perhaps you missed Chris Hill’s video from Gathering of Eagles III last September 15th. If you saw it, you would understand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlGiuNN7w4
Gathering of Eagles & Chris Hill = Fighting
Insurgency at Home = IVAW & CODE PINK
You chose to become part of the Insurgency at Home.