First, “Duncan’s” veterans’ group has disbanded.

Next, the Denver Post, which had quoted him extensively, now jumps on public officials who happily pimped “Duncan”/Strandlof:

Dems red-faced over veteran imposter

Democrats are incensed over how a man duped the party and veterans during the ’08 campaign.
By Michael Riley

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else…

…There is little doubt that Strandlof had a remarkable ability to fool people, something aided by the fact that among his fabrications was his claim that he suffered a severe brain injury, which helped cover behavior that associates now concede was often erratic and strange.

But there were also plenty of signs during much of the time Strandlof was working on behalf of candidates for anyone watching carefully.

Not including the Denver Post, apparently.

CVA wasn’t registered as a political organization until well after the campaigns were over, and then only at the state level despite being active in federal campaigns.

And although he claimed to represent 32,000 veterans — the biggest post- 9/11 vets group in Colorado — Strandlof always showed up at events with the same small number of supporters, and there were few concrete signs he represented more than a close circle he had gathered around him.

“Nobody really fully trusted any of those numbers. . . . He had a few dozen people who were helping him out. He claimed to have a huge mailing list that no one ever saw. The VFW, the American Legion, none of those traditional veterans groups had ever heard of him,” said one prominent veterans activist who worked for Democratic candidates during the campaign and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The veterans community was very protective over him because he had portrayed himself as a wounded veteran. This is someone who claimed spending 18 months undergoing physical rehabilitation after suffering debilitating injuries. . . . You don’t go at somebody like that hard,” the activist said. “Perhaps we learned a good lesson here.”

Reminder: It’s not the first time.

It won’t be the last.

***

Much more at This Ain’t Hell.

You remember Jessie MacBeth, don’t you? He was the fake “Army Ranger” thug who lied about serving in Iraq and was promoted by the Iraq Veterans Against the War until milbloggers exposed him as a total fraud.

Well, meet a guy who makes Jessie MacBeth look like a choir boy.

And add this story to the ever-growing file of bogus Winter Soldier Syndrome tales from MacBeth and Micah Wright to Josh Lansdale and Amorita Randall.

“Rick Duncan” of Colorado Springs was a prominent anti-war activist who claimed to have served in Iraq on three tours of duty AND survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. He has now been unmasked as a lying mental patient (via Colorado Springs Gazette with a big hat tip to This Ain’t Hell):

The leader of a statewide veterans group who fought for homeless veterans in Colorado Springs was in the Denver County jail on Wednesday, unmasked as a former psychiatric patient who posed as a wounded Marine officer and 9/11 survivor.

Federal authorities are looking into whether Rick Duncan, whose real name is Richard Glen Strandlof, could have pilfered money he raised in the name of Colorado veterans, said Daniel Warvi of the Colorado Veterans Alliance (CVA), the group that Duncan founded.

“We were all taken aback,” Warvi said.

Strandlof, 31, who invented the name Duncan and claimed he was a former Marine captain and 1997 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, never served in the military and falsely claimed that he was in the Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the group said.

Two members of CVA said the group became suspicious of the man they knew as Duncan after discovering inconsistencies in his personal story…The group said it found that Strandlof had been a patient in a mental hospital in Washoe County, Nev., at the time of the roadside bombing in Fallujah, Iraq, that he claimed left him severely wounded. CVA members contacted the FBI field office in Denver, which opened an investigation in early May and arrested him Tuesday night in downtown Denver on a traffic warrant originating in El Paso County.

According to Warvi, when an FBI agent asked whether he was Strandlof or Duncan, he responded “both,” then requested an attorney.

Duncan was quoted extensively by Colorado newspapers and TV stations whose b.s. detectors were apparently in the repair shop:

Under his invented identity, Strandlof proved to be a popular spokesman on veterans’ issues. He is quoted in stories as recently as March, when he was interviewed by The Denver Post about a measure before the state General Assembly to cut tuition for veterans.

He often spoke vividly of being in the Pentagon on Sept. 11 when a hijacked airliner was crashed into the building.

“The duality of that day, the good and the bad that I saw that day, are forever etched in my mind and in my memory,” he told KOAA television in an interview last year marking the anniversary of the attacks.

The Gazette quoted Strandlof on issues concerning homeless veterans. The Colorado Springs Independent wrote about him in articles about veterans struggling to deal with their experiences in war and PTSD.

On YouTube, Strandlof appears in desert camouflage talking about his “wounds.”

“I was involved in an IED explosion that killed four Marines,” he said. “I have a plate roughly the size of a, like, cup and saucer on this portion of my skull.” In the video, Strandlof also claims to have had a hip replacement and to have “had a finger blown off.”

Here’s that video:

Get a load of some of Duncan’s other performances. Here he is using his Absolute Moral Authority to condemn torture in December 2008:

Here he is reading the 91st Psalm after recounting how he was “heavily injured” on his third tour in Iraq:

This Ain’t Hell follows the rest of the Internet and YouTube trails. This faker wrote a piece published at VoteVets.org, the same anti-war group promoted by Gen. Wesley Clark which fell for anti-war hoax “soldier” Josh Lansdale.

Duncan/Strandlof is going to need a lot more than prayers and poetry therapy in dealing with the feds.

***

Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette has some must-read updates on Duncan/Strandlof’s Nevada fundraising scam.

Bajan’s MySpace page includes a photograph of Albert Einstein where Bajan’s face should be. He listed his interests as “pot, pot, pot, pot, pot and pot and surfing and more pot and (women) and fishing for (women) and playing the drums.”

He may have been beaten and robbed, but police are now considering filing charges against him for filing a false police report.

Reporter Larry Altman is angry he trusted this guy and is irritated that he can’t take people’s word about their military service. I see two upsides to this story, though–the first, as Altman notes, is that people were extremely generous in offering to help what they thought was a mistreated hero.

The second is that this is an old-fashioned case of stolen valor. Unlike Jesse Macbeth, Micah Wright, and the like, Bajan wasn’t faking his service in order to undermine the mission or allege war crimes and slander against the troops. At least he recognized who the heroes are, and he tried to pinch a little of their honor instead of trying to diminish it.

No, that’s not a defense of Bajan, who deserves a good turn in the national pillory. It’s just relief that even losers like Bajan still understand where honor is due.

___

Previous story about Bajan’s assault here.

{Post by See-Dubya}

***
Documenting the war on military recruiters that no one else will document, I turned my special blog report from last week into today’s syndicated newspaper column.

The nutball who threatened to bomb the Gathering of Eagles has upped the ante:

And then there’s this (via LGF):

March 19 War Anniversary Protest
Evict the military recruitment station, cage the recruiters!

When: Wednesday, March 19
Rally: 6:00pm
March: Departs at 6:30pm for the Military Recruiting Station
Where: Meet at the dinosaur sculpture in front of Carnegie Library (4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213)

This March 19 hundreds of cities across the U.S. will hold events to mark the anniversary of the war in Iraq and remember the tragic toll the world has and continues to pay; nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed, 30,000 wounded, at least 100,000 Iraqis killed, four million displaced, and nearly a trillion dollars squandered.

While there will be events in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere, members of Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) feel it is important that there be a local event connected to our community’s long-standing, successful efforts to use education and action to oppose the war and undermine the militarism that leads to perpetual war(s).

On Wednesday, March 19, POG will be holding a torch-lit march to a modern day castle of abominations—our local military recruiting station. If the station remains open, we intend to evict it and everything inside of it, occupy the location, and transform it into something useful for the community. We’ll also be bringing a movable cage in which to confine military recruiters until they no longer pose a danger to our friends and neighbors. Of course, the station may be closed and recruiters may flee or hide behind the police apparatus that enables the war to continue. That is often the case, and we’ve seen in the past the overwhelming resources the state directs against these anniversary events because of their importance as a symbol of dissent. We believe in acting effectively, in confronting the war, at times and places of our choosing. When the state brings the resources necessary to suppress direct action against the war, it makes sense to hold a symbolic protest, and we still consider that a success, as it exposes the reality that it is ultimately on the local level that our countries war policy will be decided.

Robin Boyd has much more on the unhinged mob’s run-up to the Winter Soldier II hearings.

See also Mark Seavey at Vets for Freedom and Denis Keohane at Obiter Dictum.

Bruce Kesler gives you an overview:

For an organization that claims 800 members, the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) are mounting a major assault, beginning Thursday, on America and its veterans. In a well-organized replay of their mentors’ Vietnam Veterans Against the War fraud-filled Winter Soldier hearings of 1971, the IVAW’s Winter Soldier II will seek to paint America and its servicepeople as the latest incarnation of Genghis Khan.

Out of the millions of servicemen and women who have served since September 11, 2001, membership in IVAW is open to any, regardless of whatever their role, in war theater or not, or type of discharge. And, still IVAW has just managed to recruit about 800 malcontents to air highly-painted and exaggerated charges.

Last week, a Reporters Guide to Winter Soldier II began distribution, to help prevent press credence to unsubstantiated accusations.

The scope of IVAW’s propaganda effort is emerging. Although they’ve pleaded, with yet unknown results, for allies in Congress to give them the widespread publicity that Senator Fulbright gave to John Kerry in April 1971, IVAW’s campaign is still on a scale that their elder VVAW teachers would envy. Thanks to today’s available communications technology and the Left’s alternative media, IVAW is not just dependent upon the mainstream media to spread its line.

Video and photographic evidence will also be presented, and the Winter Soldier testimony and panels will be broadcast live on nationally Pacifica Radio and satellite television station Free Speech TV Channel 9415. Streaming video on ivaw.org, as well as audio at KPFA.org and warcomeshome.org will enable people to tune in across the world.

The War Comes Home site, which I edit and is associated with the San Francisco Pacifica radio station KPFA, will also feature bios, photos, and videos of the speakers. Online audio clips of the testimonials will be posted as the hearing progresses.

Space at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Washington, DC suburb where the hearings will occur, is limited. Antiwar activists are not being encouraged to show up, but are instead being asked to have listening or viewing parties in their own communities.

Independent journalist Aaron Glantz, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, has reported extensively from Iraq throughout the U.S. occupation. He is author of How America Lost Iraq (Penguin). He will co-host the Pacifica radio broadcast of the Winter Soldier hearings, along with veteran Aimee Allison and both of them will blog from the hearing at www.warcomeshome.org , where listeners will be able to leave their comments.

Denis Keohane has been doing yeoman’s work dissecting and documenting the IVAW’s march to Winter Soldier II. Today, in a lengthy column, Keohane exposes the deep involvement of freelance propaganda journalist Dahr Jamail lending his large English and Arabic audience to spreading the lies of Jesse MacBeth. Macbeth, before being exposed, lied about his service and that he’d committed atrocities against innocent Iraqis, and the IVAW supported MacBeth. The tracing of Jamail’s large international influence in spreading lies against America and its servicepeople is painstakingly described and linked by Keohane. Read it all, if you can keep your bile down long enough.

The possible whereabouts of Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy continue to make national news, including top billing Saturday on AOL’s list of news stories, fueling additional media focus on his mysterious absence.

Major news organizations such as Fox News and NPR also are planning coverage into next week.

Levy vanished from public life Sept. 26, the day he signed seven ordinances and city officials said he transferred power to city Business Administrator Domenic Cappella. Officials, his family and his lawyer have refused to say where he is, claiming privacy regulations that experts say do not apply.

Levy’s disappearance came amid resignation rumors tied to an ongoing federal investigation into military decorations and whether the military allowed Levy to claim benefits to which he was otherwise unentitled.

In November, the 20-year Army veteran admitted to The Press of Atlantic City that he was never a member of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, despite years of claims that included his 2005 campaign.

In January, The Press reported that federal investigators were probing his records.

The AC Press downplays Levy’s political affiliation, noting that he switched parties from Republican to Democrat in 2004. Newsflash: A D is a D is a D.

The NYTimes takes 13 paragraphs before mentioning Levy’s political affiliation. (hat tip- JWF.)

Meanwhile, Fox News reports:

Speculation is rampant that Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy will resign this week. A city official who does not want to be named told FOX News that Levy’s departure could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.

But state Sen. James Sonny McCullough said he has been given no indication that Levy will quit.

Levy called in sick to work a week and half ago and has since disappeared. With his resignation, “this circus will come to an end,” the official said.

Oh, I doubt that.

***

Related: Atlantic City is a basket case.

Related II: Dafydd at Big Lizards catalogues some phony soldiers and divides them up into a helpful taxonomy.

See also: Winter Soldier Syndrome.

Meantime, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar has started a censure bandwagon:

Sen. Ken Salazar dove further into the Rush Limbaugh brouhaha today, saying he’d support censuring the conservative radio talk-show host for his use of the words “phony soldiers.”

During a conference call with reporters, Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, said he’d support censure if a vote were taken. None is planned currently in the Senate.

“Rush Limbaugh owes an apology,” Salazar said. “He owes an apology to the men and women in uniform who are doing the duty that the commander in chief has asked them to do.”

Guess he’s trying to get back into the nutroots’ good graces after signing onto the resolution condemning MoveOn.

The Daily Sentinel also points out that Salazar’s brother is helping track phony soldiers.

Salazar last month denounced MoveOn.org for an advertisement it placed in The New York Times calling the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, “Betray-us.”

Ken Salazar voted for a resolution criticizing MoveOn.org for its ad, but other than his vote, Salazar “didn’t register much righteous indignation,” said Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

His brother, meantime, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., is working to establish a database of soldiers who have earned military honors so that people who falsely claim to hold medals can be prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act, which John Salazar authored.

ABC News recently broadcast a report on phony soldiers, including MacBeth.

“Is Salazar going to vote to censure ABC News?” Wadhams said.

Update: Moonbats continue to push to kick Rush off the Armed Forces Network. More here.

***
So, word is that the Democrats will introduce a House resolution Monday condemning Rush Limbaugh for his remarks about phony soldiers. Brian Maloney points out that ABC News aired a report on phony soldiers and Operation Stolen Valor two days before Rush made his remarks. Asks Maloney: “Given the overwhelming evidence to support Limbaugh’s contention that he really was talking about phony soldiers who have faked their service, how does the left justify continuing this fabrication?”

Here is what this phony fiasco is really all about: It’s about the MoveOn.org Democrats trying to save face in the aftermath of the disastrous “General Betray Us” smear. They want their own moment of righteous (or rather, lefteous) indignation, their own empty proof that they really, really, really do support the troops. They want to shift attention away from MoveOn.org, its bully tactics, and its thug brethren at Media Matters. They are making a pathetic attempt to equate the “Betray Us” attack–which was deliberately timed for publication and maximum p.r. damage to our military command when the world was watching our top general in Iraq testifying in Congress–with a radio talk show host’s ruminations about anti-war soldiers who have faked their military records/history.

Bottom-of-the-barrel desperation.

I have written and reported extensively on the Winter Soldier Syndrome phenomenon. It goes far beyond Jesse MacBeth, the faker busted by the blogosphere. As I wrote in August in my column on the Scott Thomas Beauchamp fiasco:

Ever since John Kerry sat in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and accused American soldiers of wantonly razing villages “in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan,” the Left has embraced a small cadre of self-loathing soldiers and soldier wannabes willing to sell their deadened souls for the anti-war cause.

Think Jimmy Massey, the unhinged Marine who falsely accused his unit of engaging in mass genocide against Iraqis.

Think Jesse MacBeth and Micah Wright, anti-war Army Rangers who weren’t Army Rangers.

Think Josh Lansdale, the anti-war Army medic who attacked former GOP Sen. Jim Talent by spinning a bogus health care tale swallowed whole by Dem Sen. Claire McCaskill, Gen. Wesley Clark and the far Left VoteVets.org crew.

Think Amorita Randall, the NYTimes-championed former naval construction worker who told the Times magazine that she served in Iraq, was in a Humvee that blew up, and was raped twice while serving in the Navy–but, in fact, had never served in Iraq.

Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters.

Think it doesn’t make a difference? Imagine where Sen. John Kerry would be now if the Internet had been around in 1971.

Instead of confronting the problem, MoveOn.org/MediaMatters Democrats are preparing to shoot the messenger.

The reported sponsor of the resolution is Democrat Rep. Mark Udall. He’s running for Senate in Colorado. Yes, he’s trying to win a Senate seat by running against Rush Limbaugh. The Colorado Index has the text of his proposed resolution:

110TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. CON. RES.
Honoring all Americans serving in the Armed Forces of the United States and condemning the attack by broadcaster Rush Limbaugh on the integrity and professionalism of some of those Americans.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. UDALL of Colorado submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Honoring all Americans serving in the Armed Forces of the United States and condemning the attack by broadcaster Rush Limbaugh on the integrity and professionalism of some of those Americans.

Whereas on September 26, 2007, the broadcaster Rush Limbaugh told a nationwide radio audience that members of the Armed Forces who have expressed disagreement with current policies of the United States regarding military activities in Iraq are ”phony soldiers”; and

Whereas such a description constitutes an unwarranted slur on the integrity and professionalism of members of the Armed Forces who exercise their constitutional right to express their opinions regarding public policy in a manner consistent with good order and
discipline: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

SECTION 1. Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces have volunteered for such service and have not been drafted for that purpose.

(2) Those who serve in the Armed Forces deserve the respect of all Americans for their willingness to undertake that service.

(3) Those who serve in the Armed Forces do not relinquish their constitutional right to express their opinions regarding public policy in a manner consistent with good order and discipline.

(4) The dedication and honor of Americans serving in the Armed Forces should not be impugned because of their exercise of such right.

SEC. 2. Congress –

(1) recognizes the service of all members of the Armed Forces serving in good standing and with honor to defend the United States, and the personal sacrifices made by them and their families;

(2) commits to judge the merits of the opinions of members of the Armed Forces regarding the policies of the United States, including those related to military actions in Iraq, without prejudice or personal bias, including refraining from unwarranted personal attacks;

(3) condemns in the strongest possible terms the personal attacks made by the broadcaster Rush Limbaugh impugning the integrity and professionalism of Americans serving in the Armed Forces who have expressed opinions regarding military actions in Iraq;

(4) honors all members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel serving in harm’s way, as well as their families; and

(5) pledges to debate any supplemental funding request or any policy decisions regarding the war in Iraq with the solemn respect and the commitment to integrity that the sacrifices of these members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel deserve

Like the “Betray Us” ad, this, too, will ultimately backfire.

As my post yesterday about MoveOn.org’s attempt to squelch criticism by t-shirt and bumper sticker sellers at Cafe Press underscored, the unhinged Left is beginning to alienate its own base with its any-means-necessary tactics.

You can only shoot yourself in the foot so many times…

***

Glenn Reynolds spells it out: “…the intent is to limit the ability of people like Limbaugh or O’Reilly to drive stories in the mainstream news as we get closer to the election. Expect more of this, with more targets.”

Yes. In other words: A backdoor restoration of the Fairness Doctrine.

Peter Wehner weighs in.

***

You asked for it: Rep. Mark Udall’s contact info…

Rep. Mark Udall
100 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2161
Fax: (202) 226-7840

Update: Ace catches the NYTimes changing its story. It is definitely flaming skull time.

***

The newspaper that was hoaxed by Jayson Blair covers the magazine that was hoaxed by Stephen Glass, and which is now under tough scrutiny over the work of pseudonymous soldier “Scott Thomas.”

From the NYTimes:

Just who is the “Baghdad Diarist”?

It is a question that many people are asking The New Republic, the Washington political magazine that has been running articles attributed to an American soldier in Baghdad.

The author, who used the pen name Scott Thomas, has written three articles for the magazine since February, describing gruesome incidents in Iraq. Last week, The Weekly Standard questioned the veracity of the New Republic articles and invited readers with knowledge about the military or Baghdad to comment.

Since then, several readers and a spokesman for the base where the soldier is supposedly based have written in, raising more questions.

“Absolutely every piece of information that’s come out since we put that call up has cast further doubt on that story,” said Michael Goldfarb, the online editor of The Weekly Standard. “There’s not a single person that has come forward and said, ‘It sounds plausible.’ ”

Franklin Foer, the editor of The New Republic, will not reveal the author’s identity but says the magazine is investigating the accuracy of his articles. In the late 1990s, under different editors, the magazine fired an associate editor, Stephen Glass, for fabrications.

“Now that these questions have been raised, we’ve launched an inquiry. We’re putting the full resources of the magazine to look into the story,” Mr. Foer said. “It’s taking me a little bit longer than I wish it did. The author, not to mention some of the participants in the anecdotes he described, are active duty soldiers and they’re on 20-hour active combat missions sometimes, and it’s very difficult for me to get them all on the phone to ask them the questions that I’d like to ask.”

Should have thought of all that before printing “Thomas’s” articles, no?

Scott Johnson at Power Line writes:

We don’t know yet whether Thomas’s article is fact or fiction. Foer may yet produce facts that substantiate it. As I observed last week, however, TNR ran the article without much in the way of independent verification of the incidents recounted in it. Foer’s comments in the Times article today amplify the point. Given the poor light in which they displayed our armed forces serving in Iraq, the incidents retailed by “Thomas” were self-authenticating in the eyes of TNR. “The editors” never seriously thought to question them.

Michael Goldfarb, who got things rolling at the Weekly Standard online, has more reaction from FOB Falcon.

***

Just a reminder of TNR editor Peter Beinart’s sneering two years ago when conservative talk show hosts headed to Iraq to see the situation on the ground themselves:

“This is the most pathetic thing I’ve heard in a long time. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Peter Beinart, editor of left-leaning The New Republic magazine, said.“They have no idea what journalism is, and to pretend they are journalists is laughable,” Beinart said. “You do not achieve victory by not facing reality. I think these are the kinds of people that will lead us to lose there.”

For the past few days, debate has bubbled on the right side of the blogosphere about “Scott Thomas,” an alleged soldier serving in Baghdad who penned a piece for The New Republic about war atrocities he allegedly witnessed. Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard first raised questions and asked bloggers to look into the charges. Milbloggers dissect Thomas’s tales: Read Greyhawk and Blackfive, where troops at the FOB where “Scott Thomas” is allegedly stationed respond to Thomas’s claims that a female civilian contractor with a “more or less melted” face works there and was ridiculed by cruel soldiers. Read them all.

At The American Thinker, Ray Robison wonders if “Scott Thomas” is an anti-war agitator/nutroots poster child named Clinfton Hicks.

At Villainous Company, Cassandra compares Thomas to the old Winter Soldier and points to this passage in Goldfarb’s piece ripping into Thomas’s anecdote about the alleged mocking of the female civilian contractor allegedly burned by an IED:

Is it possible that American soldiers would be so sadistic when confronted by a badly burned woman, who may be a fellow soldier? Well, yes: Anything is possible when it comes to human depravity. But consider: these are enlisted men who, by the author’s own account, don’t know who this woman is or what rank she might hold. (Incidentally, wouldn’t soldiers be able to distinguish a soldier from a contractor–especially if she is a regular at the chow hall?) Would they really ridicule her with raised voices in a public place, on “one especially crowded day”?…

Power Line wants TNR to explain.

Hot Air coverage here and here.

Paging Media Mythbusters…

Got a tip from Tacoma, Wash. that our old friend Jesse MacBeth, the fake Army Ranger who was briefly a poster boy for the anti-war movement, has been arrested. My source says he was released from the Pierce County Jail–for assaulting a woman–and then taken into custody by federal law enforcement officials. He is facing federal charges of fraud.

More to come…

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports tonight that MacBeth has been charged with falsifying his military record. Finally:

A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.

Jesse Adam Macbeth, formerly of Phoenix, garnered much attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his true discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his “entry level performance and conduct.”

A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged him with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration…

…Macbeth claimed to have been shot in Iraq and to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, LaMont E. Stokes, an agent with the VA’s Office of the Inspector General, wrote in the charging papers. He collected more than $10,400 in benefits to which he was not entitled, Stokes wrote.

Stokes said he interviewed Macbeth in the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, where he has been serving a sentence for fourth-degree assault, and that Macbeth admitted falsifying the documents because he was homeless and wanted to “sucker” anything he could out of the government.

Iraq Veterans Against the War and other organizations removed his allegations from their Web sites after learning they were false. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflaged jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: “We would burn their bodies … hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque,” he said.

His past criminal history includes “false emergency reporting, criminal trespass, domestic violence and fraud, and he is wanted by the Safford County sheriff’s office in Arizona for illegal credit card use.”

***

Update: Steve Oatney, former State Veterans Service Director for AMVETS in Tacoma, is the whistleblower who notified the VA about MacBeth’s fraudulent claim for service connected disabilities that he filed with the VA in 2005.

I asked him for his reaction to the news. He said: “Mr. Jesse MacBeth, fake veteran, coward, fraud and woman batterer was taken into custody by federal officials. This is in response to a fraudulent claim for service connected disabilities that he filed with the VA in 2005. On behalf of all veterans I am happy to have done my part bringing this fraud to Justice. He deserves to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

He also issued the following statement:

Jesse Macbeth has caused harm in many ways. He has slandered and defamed a whole generation of veterans who are fighting to protect our nation from the horde of religious fanatics whose stated goal it is to “convert or kill us all.”

He has taken valuable time and space at VA treatment facilities that rightfully belonged to legitimate veterans with legitimate service connected disabilities. He has stolen from the taxpayers the value of said treatment through fraudulent means.

He has damaged our nation in the eyes of many foreign countries with his bogus anti war video and false claims of mass killings.

He has stolen valor from every veteran who legitimately was awarded the purple heart.

He wasted the time of the AMVETS service officer that originally accepted his claim on fraudulent grounds and in doing so caused harm to the reputation of the AMVETS service office in Tacoma.

He wasted my time and that of fellow service officers and VA officials responding to his false claims of neglect by a system that he was not entitled to in the first place.

In my opinion Mr. Macbeth deserves the harshest punishment the government can muster.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle is handling the case.

***
Previous:

What ever happened to Jesse MacBeth?
The fables of Jesse/Jessie MacBeth
Another Jesse MacBeth puzzle
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth(?) posts his discharge form
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth’s MySpace page
Hot Air: Unmasking an anti-war fraud
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth video goes viral
Hot Air: Anti-war video bogus?

Welcome to the Jesse MacBeth/Micah Wright/Jimmy Massey liars’ club, Ms. Randall.

And chalk up another embarrassment for the anti-war fable enablers at the New York Times.

***
Jim Hoft points out that the Times website this morning features a photo of Randall in “uniform” as part of its interactive photo supplement to reporter Sara Corbett’s story:

Instapinch isn’t so much a blog as it is one former F14 Tomcat aviator’s shrine to his recently retired, much loved air frame. The author, “Pinch” Paisley, currently serves as a commander in the Navy Reserves, and is the milblogosphere’s swing blogger, having written at Blackfive, OPFOR, and Defense Tech. He’s also got a great eye for the more profound happenstances of moonbattery. Remember the Truther who proved that 9/11 was an inside job using nothing but chicken wire, kerosene, and a little bit of insanity? It was Pinch who first tipped everyone off to the hilarity.

Army Lawyer, as the name implies, is our go-to guy for when we need the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) translated….and believe me, it does need translating. AL’s blogging on cases like Ethen Watada, Gitmo Trials, Jesse Macbeth, etc has been instrumental, particularly when he runs into the occasional ideologically driven moonbat who claims to know military law better than the military lawyer. Happens frequently over at Milblogs HQ.

Eaglespeak is a blog run by a retired Navy Captain, now an attorney. Eagle knows the law of the sea backwards and forwards, which is useful when you blog about topics like floating toll-booths. He (and Greyhawk) also happen to be whupping my butt in our milblogger March Madness bracket. Eagle is one of my faves, his intelligence and his experience have made him an indispensable resource.

Andi is the first lady of the milblogosphere. She was the brains behind last year’s first annual milblogging conference, and she’s currently working on the second (May 5, 2007). Andi, an Army spouse (hardest job in the military, ya know), launched her blog Andi’s World in 2005. Her often passionate writings on the tough topics, coping with the absence of her husband, loss, deployment anxiety, etc…resonated with her readers. Demand was such that Andi created Military.com’s Spouse Buzz blog, a blogging portal for military spouses worldwide.

And lastly, just a mention of my fellow bloggers at OPFOR….because I’m so proud to have them all on board. Bullnav, a former submariner…now a reservist. Lt Col P, a Marine artillery officer by trade. Lightning, a Marine infantry and fire support officer (four!! deployments since 9/11). And Charlie, an Army intel officer in the National Guard, and a very close friend. All of us, every stinkin’ one, graduated from the Virginia Military Institute.

Most of these bloggers will be at this year’s Milblogging Conference. So please, feel free to drop in on May 5th, have a beer, and meet some of these amazing men and women. We’d love to have ya.

Remember Jesse MacBeth, the fake Army Ranger propped up by anti-war moonbats and exposed by sharp-eyed bloggers as a lying liar?

Sweetness and Light reports he’s in jail–apparently in custody in Pierce County, Wash. on assault charges.

All he is saying is give peace a chance…

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Previous:

The fables of Jesse/Jessie MacBeth
Another Jesse MacBeth puzzle
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth(?) posts his discharge form
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth’s MySpace page
Hot Air: Unmasking an anti-war fraud
Hot Air: Jesse MacBeth video goes viral
Hot Air: Anti-war video bogus?

Two separate Democrat ad campaigns–run statewide by Missouri Senate candiate Claire McCaskill and run nationally on CNN and FOX by failed Democrat presidential candidate retired Gen. Wesley Clark–have featured an Iraq war veteran identified as Josh Lansdale.

First, watch the McCaskill ad (part of a “Missouri Voices” series with the usual “I’m Claire McCaskill and I approve this ad” endorsement at the end) in which Lansdale attacks McCaskill’s GOP opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, for “cutting veterans benefits:”

Lansdale, a medic who served in Iraq for 11 months in the Sunni Triangle with the Army Reserve’s 487th Engineer Detachment, recounts how he “returned from Iraq with a busted ankle and post-traumatic stress. It was six months before I could see a doctor.” He unjustly blames Sen. Talent for a local administrative delay that, if it occurred, has no plausible connection to Talent’s votes to rein in soaring military health care costs.

We’ll come back to Lansdale’s medical claim and the attack of Sen. Talent in a moment.

Several weeks later, Lansdale flew off to Los Angeles to tape an anti-Bush/anti-Iraq war ad, “Because of Iraq,” produced by something called the “VoteVets Political Action Committee.”

Lansdale was one of four Iraq war vets who made the ad, running until Nov. 7 on CNN and Fox News Channel, with retired Gen./failed Democrat presidential candidate/FNC contributor Wesley Clark:

Watch the original ad on YouTube thanks to the hawk-eyed Jim Hoft:

Lansdale’s line: “Because of Iraq, there are more terrorists in the world.” Here’s a screenshot from his cameo:

But a funny thing happened while almost no one was watching. Lansdale has disappeared from Gen. Clark’s ad.

Watch the re-cut version (hat tip – Jim Hoft and Allah):

Now you see Lansdale…now you don’t.

Wanna know why? Because a local Kansas City TV station, KMBC, smelled a rat long before the original Clark ad began airing this week.

There may be a problem with one of the most effective television ads being run by Democrat for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill. Her campaign can’t prove it is true, KMBC’s Micheal Mahoney reported.

The commercial is called “Josh.” It is named after Kansas Citian Josh Lansdale, a medic who served and was wounded in Iraq. “I returned from Iraq with a busted ankle and post-traumatic stress. It was six months before I could see a doctor,” Lansdale said in the McCaskill ad.

Officials with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Kansas City said Iraqi vets like Lansdale are priority veterans. “We see them within 30 days of their entry into our system,” said Jane Alley of the VA Medical Center.

…Mahoney reported that he went to one of the addresses for Lansdale, and for more than a week, Mahoney and the McCaskill campaign tried to contact Lansdale. Mahoney said he even asked Lansdale’s mother to have him call KMBC.

In one brief telephone conversation, Lansdale praised the VA’s mental health program, but he complained about how his ankle problem was treated. Mahoney said that indicates some sort of contact, but if, when and for how long cannot be determined.

…Mahoney reported that since Lansdale would not meet with him to answer questions or take phone calls from the McCaskill campaign, he was unable to prove the accuracy of Lansdale’s claim. The commercial is no longer airing on KMBC-TV.

That story aired Oct. 10. Clark’s original ad featuring Lansdale debuted on Nov. 1. In that ensuing period, Lansdale refused to release documentation about his medical claims in the McCaskill ad. Sen. Talent challenged McCaskill on the ad in one of their debates. Another local TV station, Fox 2, investigated the claims further in a report aired Oct. 23. The McCaskill campaign told the station it would not release any VA hospital reports proving Lansdale’s claim because “VA reports are very complicated. He doesn’t need to be put under the microscope any further.” The news broadcast also discovered that Lansdale had in fact seen a nurse practitioner in a timely manner for his medical condition. More local blogs and TV stations tracked Josh’s ducking and hiding. Left-wing blogs attempted to invoke the absolute moral authority defense to shield Lansdale from scrutiny.

More significantly, veterans from Lansdale’s unit in Iraq came forward on Gateway Pundit to challenge his accounts of his war injuries and war stories.

Lansdale was quoted in the Kansas City Star in April describing his ankle injury and war experience:

“It was a pretty hot zone. We took a lot of mortar fire, IEDs, car bombs, saw a lot of helicopter crashes and worked the UN embassy bombing. I dragged a lot of people out of burning buildings, cars, motorcycle wrecks and explosions.”

Hoft received e-mails from two retired members of Lansdale’s unit, the Army Reserve’s 487th Engineer Detachment, in response to Lansdale’s anecdotes. An excerpt from Gary Kuehn, SFC/AGR, Retired:

I was the 1SG and Fire Chief for the unit. I also was AGR for the unit for 17 years. We were deployed in May of 03. We were stationed at Camp Anaconda Iraq. We arrived there on or about the 23rd of May and departed on or about the 21st of April 04.

There was one Helicopter tire that blew up on a couple soldiers and messed one up pretty bad and killed the other. There was also one motorcycle accident when a soldier hit a honey wagon (Porta Potty Cleaner) and his head was pretty swollen when we got there. Other than that, There was not one plane or helicopter that crashed on us during this period. None of us even got close to Baghdad or any Embassy buildings other than when we drove on the outskirts on our way to Balad (camp Anaconda).

Yes we had many nights of mortars come in but only a couple even got close to us at the fire station and that was right at the end. 95% that they fired at us either missed everything or were duds. None of my fire fighters that fought any fires dragged anyone out of a building. We had 2 of our own fire fighters go down because of heat problems while fighting fires, but that was it.

I am sure that Josh Lansdale saw a lot of things that you would not see in the states, however he is blowing this way WAY out of proportion. I had 3 other soldiers that came a lot closer than he ever could imagine to being killed. I would have to see his medical records, but I can not even remember him hurting his ankle. He may have sprained it at worse if even that…

Read the whole thing.

But somehow, Clark and the VoteVets organization initially either ignored the doubts about Lansdale or failed to vet him before sticking him in a highly prominent ad campaign attacking the Bush administration and Republicans on the war.

The fact that Lansdale has been cut from the ad speaks volumes about the VoteVets’ belated assessment of his credibility. They obviously think he’s a fraud now, too, or they wouldn’t have dropped him. It also speaks volumes about McCaskill’s continued support of Lansdale’s story. If Gen. Clark is too embarrassed to be seen in an ad with him now, why does the McCaskill campaign still stand by him?

The VoteVets organization, by the way, continues to run aggressive ads in Missouri, where the candidates are locked in a dead heat. McCaskill’s cynical use of an anti-war hoaxer and his promotional group may well be the deciding factor in the election.

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Since the invasion of Iraq, Dems and the anti-war Left have been duped by anti-war hoaxers and used them to attack the Bush administration. Remember Jesse MacBeth?

Oh, and anyone up for a trip down Christmas in Cambodia lane?

From John Kerry to Tom Harkin to CBS to Josh Lansdale, the Left always seem to have a bad habit of distorting war truths for political gain while it accuses others of its very own sins.

Note that fake Iraq vet Jesse MacBeth’s publicists are the same ones now disseminating Watada propaganda.

At least they picked one of the right colors–yellow–for their banner:

Seattle Times coverage of the pro-deserter rallies here.

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Previous:

A deserter, not a “dissenter”
Pablo Paredes – convicted for refusing to deploy – more
Where in the world is Wassef Ali Hassoun?
Jeremy Hinzman: AWOL and AINO
Jeremy spoke in Canada today – Loser of the day
Deserter Kevin Benderman