Back to the IVAW Theater
The street theater that got Adam Kokesh in trouble last summer in DC has been brought to Denver. Pretending they’re on a patrol, IVAW members start face-planting random spectators as if they were suspects in terrorist attacks;
Suddenly one of the soldiers announced that they were looking for a suspect wearing an orange bandana, who they suspected of planting roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs). At that the GIs began forcing nearby pedestrians face-first up against a wall and yelling at them to “shut the fuck up.” One man was pinned to the ground in what looked like a stress position. The police officers, from Denver and surrounding towns, did nothing. They had been informed days before, one officer told me, that the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were coming to town and preparing to engage in nonviolent street theater on Tuesday and Wednesday. The scared pedestrians pinned to the wall and the sidewalk, I learned, were volunteers. This was all just acting.
Now, see, here are some more examples of what I’ve been saying for the last six months. IVAW says they support the troops, that they’re only targeting the political leadership, but the political leadership isn’t pinning Iraqis against the wall, or shoving their faces into the pavement. The troops are. The behavior that IVAW claims to be aping is the behavior of our troops. They are intentionally turning public opinion against our warriors to accomplish their political goals. Here’s some video of it;
The fellow in uniform in the top picture is wearing a combat patch of the 1st COSCOM (Corps Support Command) which supports the 18th Airborne Corps which, in turn, supports the 101st and 82nd Divisions. This fellow served three echelons behind the front. How many patrols do you suppose he’s been on? My guess is that this was the first time he’d ever seen the process, too. How accurately do you figure he can recreate the effect based on second- or third-hand shit house rumors?
In the same vein is an article Raoul sent me last night about Adam Kokesh’s latest attempt to smear the troops. He claims that they’re smuggling alcohol into the Iraq theater in violation of their orders. He makes it seem like the practice is wide spread based on his own smuggling practices four years ago. Keep in mind that Kokesh also tried to smuggle an Iraqi pistol back from Iraq, too.
Now, I don’t know if the practice is wide spread or not, I only know that I’ve never sent alcohol to anyone over there, nor would I if asked. But, Kokesh can only speak about his narrow experiences as well. There’s no way he can broadly paint our troops as closet alcoholics drinking brake fluid behind the motor pool with any accuracy. He can’t get away with recycling the old Vietnam era rumor that our troops were drug addicts in these new days of urinalysis, but he figures he can still make them seem to be substance abusers.
Before you climb on your high horse, Army Sergeant, think about what these disingenuous portrayals of our soldiers and Marines are doing to their mental health now and down the road.
And crap like this from Kokesh doesn’t help much either;
Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers, Politics
“This was all just acting.”
Yeah, acting like assholes.
I was a peacetime soldier. The closest I personally got to combat was listening to a buddy’s stories when he got back from Somalia. I would never dream of claiming to have served in a capacity that I didn’t. To do so is a slap in the face to those who have, and as far as I am concerned, deserving of (at least)a kick in the balls.
My buddy’s stories, btw, weren’t Blackhawk Down… He was hand picked because he was very good at his job, flown three quarters of the way around the world, and put on guard duty.
This is the thrilling stories REMF’s have to tell…
And what does this prove? I’m sorry, I must have missed the point. That our soldiers are bullies and thugs and this is how a “typical patrol” is carried out? Somehow I don’t think so.
All they’ve done is shown their disrespect for any and all soldiers.
Thanks, IVAW — you idiots.
Ok so my question is this: If some of those asshats are still in the military and are protesting in uniform can’t they be arrested under the UCMJ?
I have been to Iraq, granted not in a while, but to have the audacity to say that all of the troops are smuggling alcohol into the country is absurd! These guys are morons! I only wish I could have been there to show them how it is really done and taking them down like a real solider would have!
The IVAW are the VVAW’s puppets.
This is just a re-enactor’s group. It’s not showing you what are troops are doing, it’s showing you how the VVAW in the 60’s and 70’s did to trash the people they left behind in harms way.
This is Operation RAW 2.0, which was the march from Morristown, NJ to Valley Forge. Funny thing is that the IVAW are a bunch of slackers. They did their march of 25 miles from Philadelphia to Valley Forge over two days. The VVAW went 25 miles a day for 4 days.
At least the IVAW didn’t hand out flyers “An American Infantry Company Has Just Come Through Here” and then listed all the war crimes our infantry commits on a regular basis.
Probably just to lazy to write something up, but then again, since it’s all just aping the VVAW, why couldn’t they have copied the old flyer that went along with the old script?
“First Casulty” was the name of the VVAW newsletter for a while.
For Pete’s sake the IVAW hasn’t had an original yet.
BTW, the closest thing COSCOM Guy ever got to a war crime was cancelling someone’s requisition.
Jonn and A/S,
As far as what was done by the VVAW to their (sorry, I can’t bring myself to say the VVAW were anyone’s Brother except theeir own group of traitors), I was in a fast food place to grab a quick lunch and an older gentlemen was glancing at the book in my hand. I explained that it was a VVAW book by one of their own that I was reading for information on how they trashed their own generation. And how I was out to stop the IVAW puppets of VVAW from doing the same thing.
With very moist eyes and a tremble in his voice, he told me how coming home during that time was a very bad experience. So I let him know how people are not letting that happen this time and to understand that in many ways it is very much an apology to the Vietnam guys for how we allowed them to be trashed by the hippies and freaks.
All we need now is John Kerry testifing in front of Congress and we can all be happy.
POS all of em.
though it was two years ago since I was last over there there is a pretty fair amount of alchohol being smuggled in on the larger area’s (Taji, balad, Arifjan) all the places with a large amount of REMF’s gaurding chow lines. but I have not seen or heard too much about it from the front line soldiers who I talk to weekly.
Is it that big a deal anyway? you’re gonna get caught if you try it and I don’t think most of america cares if they grab a shot or two after a patrol. If anyone deserves one its them
That video by Kokesh was disturbing (and had bad sound quality). It’s like taking a peak into his soul and all I can say, it’s a dark place.
Just to speak up for the COSCOM guys, back when MGen Charlie Fletcher was a Colonel and the intial push was on, he and his COSCOM got to the meet up before the airborne division did.
The IVAW is nothing but an illegitimate offspring of the VVAW. Fook’em all. Nothing but traitors to their brothers & sisters that are still fighting the war.
Don Carl speaks:
“This is the thrilling stories REMF’s have to tell…”
Don’t feel bad about being a REMF. We all did what we were ordered to do. I forget the exact numbers, but in the Nam it was somewhere around 10 t0 12 guys to support each grunt. I just thank God that there were REMF’s to keep us supplied with beans & bullets., medevacs etc.
Jacob,
If it were up to me, I’d have every one of those gutless traitors arrested, tried, and sent to rot in jaqil for the rest of their lives!
Seven years ago (before the war) I was a Commander of an Army National Guard unit. Regarding the ivaw traitors who are still on Active Duty; as long as their traitorous activities aren’t done in uniform or done as a representative of the Army (as a Soldier), there isn’t much the Army can do. All a Commander can do in this case is call the traitor into question into his or her office and say “Look, we know you’re a part of a traitorous, Soldier-hating organization called the ivaw; here’s what the UCMJ says; don’t violate it!”. And then watcH the traitors in question LIKE HAWKS!!!!!
Whats most rediculous about all of this, is how absurd they look holding imaginary guns.
Paul,
Actually they’re violating AR 381-12 with their activities that encourage soldiers not to report for duty. It’s called subversion.