Still think they support the troops?

The People’s Worker World recounts some testimony from some anti-war dorks speaking in support of the Maoist-founded organization that calls itself Military Families Speak Out. here’s screen shot of the page instead of a link;

The testimony does nothing but impugn the character of people who join the US military;

Eugene Cherry joined the army at the age of 19 in the hopes of getting money for college. Despite being a good student, he found his options in his impoverished south side neighborhood limited. “I thought the military would be my ticket out, but I found an organization based on racism, sexism and misogyny” he testified before the assembled audience. Later he spoke of “[a] culture of violence and racism” that the military promotes within its ranks. These pressures proved to be too much for Sherry. He deserted for 16 months after being refused mental health support by the army. “I found myself fighting and oppressing a group of people in the name of the war on terror” concluded his remarks to the gathering.

The plight of women in the armed forces proved to be a recurring theme. Patricia McCann, a National Guardsman deployed in 2003, noted during her testimony that instances of sexual assault and sexual harassment within the armed forces have risen but court-martials for these crimes have declined. Another veteran (and current Chicago police officer), Lisa Zepeda, added that victims of assault have no outside authority they can report assaults to; a victim must go through her immediate superior within her unit.

Here’s Cherry from Courage to Resist;

Here’s McCann (although this profile says she’s an IVAW member, there’s no profile at IVAW in that name)

I didn’t put up any profile about Zepeda because despite her toxic charges againt commanders, she’s still a cop who deserves a measure of anonymity.

All of their stories throw fingers directly at the troops. All of them call all of our troops racist, sexist and oppressors. They couch their accusations in terms like “institutional” and “organizational” but those institutions and organizations are run by people – the troops.

But really selfish? Is the story of Katy Zatsick who blames her divorce on the military when her son was injured in Iraq. And biggest gullible moron?

Randi Scheurer had two children in the military. Soon after her son was deployed, he called imploring her to purchase a new flack jacket for him. The army had issued him a Vietnam-era jacket that was woefully inadequate for the threats he faced in Iraq. During his second deployment, he again implored his mother to privately purchase equipment that had been stolen from him and that the Army refused to replace. She finally purchased the needed equipment because the Army would not.

Yeah, Vietnam-era flak vests were all out of the inventory by the mid-80s. TSO has countered that argument here countless times – it was one of the ignorant commercials that VoteVets ran a few years back and it’s been thoroughly discredited. He might have had a kevlar vest from the 80s design – but that was two decades after Vietnam. And the Army is not in the habit of denying the replacement of equipment the troops need. His commander might have made him pay for the equipment, but he wouldn’t have refused to give it to a troop if he needed it to do his job. I noticed she didn’t name the items she replaced.

But that kind of stuff has become part of the narrative and generally accepted by the ignorant masses. So these clowns, liars and dolts at Military Families Speak Out are just reinforcing the faerie tales. Oh, and they’re in DC this weekend “educating” people about their version of the war.

Ed. Note: I made the mistake of claiming that IAVA made the ads about the flak vests. Paul Reickhoff of IAVA was kind enough to point out the error and I’ve corrected it. When I mistakes I admit it.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Liberals suck, Phony soldiers