Phony Soldiers
Recently, the left mounted a smear campaign against Rush Limbaugh for speaking against “phony soldiers.” What are phony soldiers? Phony soldiers are not veterans who are against the war – they fought to defend our country and our Constitution, which protects their free speech. Phony soldiers are people who fabricate atrocities in order to feed the anti-war movement.
Mr. Limbaugh was specifically referring to Jesse MacBeth. In 2006, MacBeth (born Jesse al-Zaid) claimed to have committed atrocities while serving in Iraq as what he calls an “Army Special Force Ranger.” (If you are going to lie, why not claim to be a Space Ranger or Power Ranger?)
As it turns out, MacBeth’s Army career only lasted 44 days. According to his court documents, he was discharged “for issues related to entry-level performance and conduct.” He never graduated basic training. He was not awarded the Purple Heart. He never made it to Iraq. That is what I would call a phony soldier.
PepperSpray Productions, a video activist group in Seattle, produced a video called “Jesse MacBeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out.” The 20-minute video aired MacBeth’s wild stories of atrocities he carried out under orders from his commanders. He says that his unit’s job was to “strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqi people.” They would interrogate Iraqi families – killing the youngest child if the soldiers did not like the answer. He claimed to have killed 200 people, some at close range, and some that were praying in mosques. He even said that they burned bodies and hung them from rafters in the mosque.
MacBeth filed a fraudulent claim for VA benefits in 2005. He claimed to have served for three years, achieved the rank of corporal, and was discharged for post-traumatic stress disorder. The VA office says that MacBeth has received over $10,400 in benefits. For his actions, he was sentenced to five months in prison, three months in a halfway house upon his release, and three years probation.
MacBeth is only the most recent example of a phony soldier. Micah Ian Wright claimed to be a Ranger in the 1989 invasion of Panama. He claimed Panama was burned to the ground to cover-up President Bush’s ties to Manuel Noriega’s drug operation in the United States. Wright never served.
Jimmy Massey actually served in the Marines, but Massey falsely claimed that his unit killed 30 Iraqi civilians, and that Marines in Iraq routinely murdered civilians. He also alleged that a four-year old girl was shot in the head, and that Marines opened fire on a peaceful protest. Massey’s book, “Kill, Kill, Kill” was published in France, detailing these atrocities. His claims were debunked by embedded reporters within Massey’s unit.
Scott Thomas Beauchamp, John Kerry, the list goes on. The real danger lies in the anti-war movement’s willingness to use lies to advance their cause. These lies are then picked up by our enemies, where they feed this propaganda to feed the anti-American sentiment of unfriendly populations. This generates more hatred and helps recruit more enemies to fight us on the battlefield.
Not only is the left willing to use fake atrocities to advance their cause, they try to smear their opponents. Thanks to liberal operations like Media Matters (which is worth noting that Hillary Clinton herself admits to have helped start), the left twists words and takes their opponents out of context, like Limbaugh in this instance. This time, it has made it to Congress, where Harry Reid, Jim Webb, and Tom Harkin (who has inflated his own military service) have attacked Limbaugh on the floor of the Senate.
Fortunately today, the internet provides a chance for the truth to strike back. These phony soldiers are being put on display as the frauds they are. American citizens, and especially veterans have every right to speak out against the war. But these phony soldiers are helping our enemies and increasing the danger that our country and our troops face.
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