Originally posted by MorningStar8741
Pinch, please explain all these 'fake' soldiers.
Are you serious? “Please explain all these fake soldiers”? I can’t *explain* them because I have no idea what possesses such a cold,
hate-filled heart to say the things they say.
As far as whether they *exist* or not, history is rife with these *fake* soldiers – fake in terms of their service, what they did, what they claim,
whatever.
Start with John Kerry (“I was on the border of Cambodia at Christmas. It is seared…*seared* in my memory") and his “Winter Soldier”
accusations. BS. Not to mention his “embellished” service record – one that he never did release in 2004 or since.
His buddy Al Hubbard was right there, right next to him, parroting the same BS.
Don’t forget our old friend Jesse Macbeth.
Don’t forget TNR’s Scott Beauchamp/Scott Thomas and the fictional events he created to sell a book he had planned.
Don’t forget Aidan Delgado and now-proven as BS accusations.
Don’t forget Richard David McClanahan – currently serving 34 months in federal prison for lying about his service.
How about that cruel hoax back in 2005 in which a man wearing a US Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier her husband had been killed
in Iraq? Perhaps it was one of Anderson’s or Jesse’s pals?
There’s always Tom Harkin, who flew aircraft on ferry flights between Japan and The PI during the Vietnam War and had claimed he had “battled MiGs
in the skies over North Vietnam” until called on that BS by Barry Goldwater.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. Again, history is replete with these poseurs, and I have no doubt I could find the same type losers in the
armies of Thucydides or Leonitas or on the Plains of Abraham or Yorktown or Flander’s Field.
Does this mean atrocities and exceptions to the rule never happen? No! But they are just that - *exceptions*. US and allied rules of engagement are
explicit and stringent and concrete with regards to holding/checking fire if there are civilians present. Go read
this blog post on what happens when insurgents are chased through a crowded marketplace..
Does this mean these fakes never served? Of course not! Cowards have donned uniforms since the beginning of organized armies. Anderson and Macbeth
and Delgado and their friends and pals are no different. The reassuring thing is that these fakes are very few and very far between.
As far as Anderson is concerned, I could care less if the guy has a purple heart. John Kerry wrote one for himself when he fired a grenade too close
to a pile of rocks and was injured by ricocheting shrapnel.
What your little buddy Anderson is saying is pure unadulterated crap.
Recently
I was invited to participate in a BBC radio discussion on if the killing of civilians in wartime was
ever justified. Of course it isn’t….but it happens! Protecting civilians is in truth the genesis of the Geneva Conventions and the foundation of
the Law of Armed Conflict – both institutions and documents were created to protect civilian population in times of war. The vast, vast majority of
international callers to this BBC radio program agreed that nobody – let me say that again - *nobody* - does more to avoid collateral damage and the
harming of civilians than US and allied forces. Nobody. You can go ahead and champion your little buddy Anderson, but what he is accusing the rest
of the US armed forces of doing is a lie. Pure and simple.
Oh, and before you go off on a "Why didn't YOU sign up!" rant, I'm in the process of retiring from 24 years of active and reserve navy service,
including a voluntary recall to the OIF AOR in the summer of 2003.
[edit on 8-10-2008 by pinch]
