Confessions Of An Iraqi War Veteran
Confessions Of An Iraqi War Veteran
Jessie Macbeth - Former Army Ranger and Iraq War Veteran, tell it like it is; how US soldiers are killing innocent Iraqis. This is a 20 minutes interview.
"We are terrorising that nation and we are getting away with it”
So the new Iraqi government what will you do about this terror? Will you use maximum force to kick out US troops?
posted by Nadia @ 8:41 AM
17 comments
17 Comments:
Macbeth has been exposed as a fraud.
Steven, were was he exposed as a fraud? Can you please provide me and the readers with proof? What did Vetrans aginst the Iraqi war have to say about him?
Always remember Iraqis don't need US soldiers to tell them what war crimes the US soldiers have commited in Iraq. The report about the marines who killed innocent civilians in cold blood is only one of many simular actions the occupation troops have commited against the Iraqi people.
Nadia,
I hope you know that, in the minds of those who believe U.S. government propaganda, all statements that contradict the carefully maintained image are inherantly "a fraud."
I believe, after months of contemplation, that these people genuinely cannot face reality, as reality is a bleak and scary place for them. Rather, they need to stay within the confines of their narrow belief structure to continue with their life believing that everything is OK in the world. Alot of people need to believe that everything is ok.
I wrote thoughts on this out partially in story form on my blog under the heading "Good Morning America."
I'm glad to see a fresh post from you Nadia, it's always nice to hear what you have to say.
I'm sure many will refuse to believe the obvious fact that Macbeth is a fraud, but that's just ignorance. The holes in his story and the uniform errors cannot be reconciled. The uniform errors were the first clue. And these are not minor errors as some people are claiming. Someone in the Army would NEVER roll their sleeves like that. Then when people looked further into his story, they found dates didn't line up and that he couldn't have done all the things he claims he has, or been at all the places at the times he claims. Haven't you noticed that none of the major media outlets haven't picked up his story? They fact checked and found his claims didn't add up.
There are real veterans that oppose the war that are begging people not to believe this story. It's already proven that he's a fraud. The veterans can easily see that. If the anti-war crowd chooses to continue publicizing this story, they'll only lose creditability and this video will be used to incite violence in the Middle East.
You can read up at Indepundit to see all the problems with the Macbeth video.
And you can go to the Peace Films Guestbook and see for yourself that even the video produces are admitting they didn't fact check Macbeth's story before they released the video.
Even IVAW has refused to endorse Macbeth because his story has too many holes.
And here's a story involving Macbeth from April 2004.
"MacBeth, a 20-year-old U.S. soldier who recently returned from Iraq after sustaining a back injury, said Coffee Plantation banned him from the store in March for the way he was dressed -- in his training uniform."
So at that time he was 20 years old. Do the math. If he was in Iraq for 16 months, that leaves less than 8 months for boot camp, jump school, Ranger training and Special Forces training. That is basically impossible. And also keep in mind at during April 2004, the Iraq War was only into the 13th month. That math doesn't jive.
Macbeth is a con artist.
And how about this.
If he was already back in the US by April of 2004, how did he participate the Fallujah attack? He claims he was there for the attack when the four Blackwater contractors were killed. That attack was on March 31, 2004. But even if he was magically able to get from Iraq back to the states in a matter of days in order to organize a protest in Arizona, it doesn't explain one huge hole in his story. The Rangers weren't in Fallujah. The Army took control of Fallujah in April 2003. It was determined that they couldn't maintain control, so jurisdiction was handed over to the Marines. The Army unit that was in Fallujah was the 82nd Airborne. At no time were the Rangers tasked with missions in Fallujah. Since March 2003 until this very day, Fallujah and the region surrounding it has been tasked to the Marines.
Seriously, if you still believe the guy, please explain why? Is it just because he's saying what you want to hear?
um, right wing doctrination sources don't count as "factual sources" in my book. Nice try though.
Have anything more convincing? Not that a bunch of old military types comiserating about old times and "how a soldier is supposed to look!" isn't interesting, it's just not what I would consider to be a source that's suitable to be used as substantiation of a very aggressive statement.
More importantly, I get the impression that you must disagree with the idea that America is terrorising Iraq (the main thrust of the blog entry, as I understand it). You might want to have a look at the civilian death toll ( available here ) if you honestly don't believe that America is "Terrorising" Iraq.
You mentioned something about math that "doesn't jive," perhaps you could do the ratio for me in a way that does jive:
40,000/3,000 = Iraq War Civilian Deaths/ September 11 Civilian Deaths.
So who's being terrorised?
You really don't care if Macbeth is a fraud, do you? It's not just 'a bunch of old military types comiserating[sic] about old times' that are pointing out that his supposed Ranger photo in the video is a pathetic fake. I'm in the military and I can plainly see the mistakes and I'm not even in the Army. You can't explain the uniform discrepancies, can you? The Army has never used the Navy style of rolling sleeves. There is no possible explanation for why his sleeves are wrong in the photo. How about the black undershirt? The Army doesn't use a black undershirt. The lack of Regimental insignia on his beret? Or wearing his beret improperly? No military photographer would take his photo if he were dressed like that. And if he was a Ranger, he wouldn't allow himself to be photographed like that.
His uniform looks like its from a bad B movie that didn't bother hiring a military consultant. Go find yourself someone you know that's been in the military. Show them the video and pause when they're showing his Ranger picture on the wall. Ask them if it makes any sense at all that an Army Ranger would be roll his sleeve like the Navy.
And as far as your hatred of 'right wing doctrination[sic] sources', all of the conflicting evidence is supplied by Macbeth to neutral or left wing sources. Unless you consider a socialist website to be a right wing outlet. Why is it major facts of his story are constantly changing and all of the dates and events he mentions in interviews and in the video have conflicting timelines? Even the owner of Peace Films, which distributed the video, has admits they never did fact check his story and now they're having a problem verifying his claims.
"I am the citizen who put the Jessie Macbeth interview on my website. I am a volunteer social justice cameraperson/video editor. I did not film or edit Jessie's interview yet I did put it on the site and I take full responsiblity for that. At present we have asked a number of veterans, those who know Jessie and those who don't, to review the video and talk with Jessie. I am hoping to hear the first reports shortly. If Jessie's claim to be a Ranger does not check out as I am hearing other citizens say is the case, I plan to still intensely follow up on whether the experiences Jessie claims to have had in Iraq are valid. If there is truth in Jessie's story, whether he was a Ranger of not, we as citizens must know. So lets see first what the vetera**ay. I will let everyone know. If Jessie's story is found valid, he will stay on this website. If Jessie is not a Ranger but his story checks out, I will pull the interview off the site but Jessie will be back in a new interview that has been verified. I'm new at all this so bear with me. We are all just citizens trying to get at the truth.
This site was put together by a web designer giving me little recourse at present but to communicate with everyone the way we all communicate on this site and that is through the guestbook. But it should work out.
In the meantime, how about if someone goes to the video page with Ms. Eman Ahmad Khamas speaking and lets us know what they think. Listen to her talk about genocide. I know the text is long and small on that page but get out your magnifying glass. The Vets will put Jessie under a magnifying glass and you can put Ms. Khamas under one. Fair enough? Go to the "Learn Something" page and click on the link, Women Say No To War. Dig around and read some of the articles about Ms. Khamas. Ok, I only have read one myself so far but hey, thinking is tough. But in a democracy of the people we have to think, like it or not. Case in point: It appears I should have been more critical regarding the Jessie Macbeth interview. But that is what freedom of speech is all about. Getting feedback, altering course with the help of other free voices and arriving at the truth." -Terry Portinga
Steven,
But let’s play along with your view he is a fake for the time being....and that you want the truth out. Does that suddenly mean US soldiers have not killed innocent Iraqis? No. Does that mean occupation troops in Iraq have not committed war crimes? No. Does this mean you are working fulltime to getting rid of Bush for his lies? Lies that not just ended up in a blog but lies that led to a war where thousands of people have been killed.
So back to the issue: occupation troops are terrorising Iraqis. This makes them one part of the problems in Iraq and its time the Iraqi government does something about it.
Misneach, I’ll go and read your “Good Morning America” right away! :)
>I'm glad to see a fresh post from you Nadia, it's always nice to hear what you have to say.
Thank you for the kind words.
When I started this blog I had no idea what it would lead to. I was content visiting all other blogs and forums and debating over there. However I like the idea of ones own blog, saying what’s on your mind and sharing it with others! A blogger said that we can never bee too many who speak out against this war of terror in the world. The more we are the better! How true indeed.
>What did Vetrans aginst the Iraqi war have to say about him?
Update from Iraq Veterans Against the War:
Iraq Veterans Against the War recently learned of a video interview with Jesse MacBeth that directs viewers to IVAW’s website and phone number. IVAW was not made aware of the creation of this video program and our input on it was never sought by its producers. Jesse MacBeth is not a spokesperson for IVAW and any claims made by MacBeth about his service have not been verified. We are currently investigating these claims and will have a full statement pending its resolution.
If the claims of this Jesse story being a fraud are true, then he deserves a serious drubbing behind the woodshed. Truth is the most powerful weapon we have against this tragedy in Iraq, and when it becomes tainted we lose. All I can say that if he is crying wolf (for whatever reason) he needs to be dealt with.
Until a serious debunking of this story comes out, I'll reserve judgement.
Bruno, what ever Jesse's stories are it does not change the facts we have today. Occupation troops have killed innocent Iraqis and committed war crimes in Iraq.
If he is a liar well then his hoax stories ended up just on blogs and forums and stopped there. Bush's and his teams lies led to a brutal war, deaths of thousands of people and the distruction of a whole country.
>Truth is the most powerful weapon
I'm not sure what to think of that any more. I am just thinking of Taheri's new story about Iran. He told lies and you had PM of Australia and Canada saying hard words against Iran all this in big headlines. But then the Jewish group in Iran said Taheri's story is all lies, they said the truth to correct his lies yet were are these headlines? Lies was the most powerful weapon in getting the war aginst Iraq, it seems they are using the same weapon this time too. The truth is not that powerfull anylonger, the world have turned up side down :(
>If he is a liar well then his hoax stories ended up just on blogs and forums and stopped there.
For us it stopped there. For him, I hope he will be charged in court with a live greeting to Bush each day "this is what happens to liars".
Bruno >"Truth is the most powerful weapon"
Nadia >"I'm not sure what to think of that any more. I am just thinking of Taheri's new story about Iran. He told lies and you had PM of Australia and Canada saying hard words against Iran all this in big headlines. But then the Jewish group in Iran said Taheri's story is all lies, they said the truth to correct his lies yet were are these headlines?"
These headlines end up on page 2.
------------
National Post apologizes for anti-Iran story (from yahoo)
The conservative National Post ran the story on its front page last Friday along with a large photo from 1944 which showed a Hungarian couple wearing the yellow stars that the Nazis forced Jews to sew to their clothing.
The story, which included tough anti-Iran comments from prominent Jewish groups, was picked up widely by Web sites and by other media.
"Is Iran turning into the new Nazi Germany? Share your opinion online," the paper asked readers last Friday.
But the National Post, a long-time supporter of
Israel and critic of Tehran, admitted on Wednesday it had not checked the piece thoroughly enough before running it.
"It is now clear the story is not true," National Post editor-in-chief Douglas Kelly wrote in a long editorial on page 2. "We apologize for the mistake and for the consternation it has caused not just National Post readers, but the broader public who read the story."
----------------
Does this mean we will never see any more Taheri articles? Does this mean PM of Australia and Canada will start getting a better grip of world politics?
Update from Iraq Vetrans against the war: http://www.ivaw.net/index.php?id=219
Questions have been raised about Jesse MacBeth and his claims of service in Iraq. MacBeth came to Iraq Veterans Against the War in January 2006 asking for help, and the organization and its members extended itself to help him in various ways. Assisting veterans is one of the founding principles of IVAW and it is a mission that we take seriously. After looking into his recent claims, we have learned that Jesse is not what he represented himself to be. Accordingly, IVAW does not in any way endorse Jesse MacBeth or any of his accounts involving military service. He -- and he alone -- is responsible for them. IVAW was not aware of the creation of the video program featuring MacBeth, and did not authorize use of our logo in the program.
The timing of the widespread circulation of the MacBeth video interestingly coincides with the ongoing military investigation of the recent Marine massacre of two dozen civilians (including women and children) in Haditha, – what is being termed as an atrocity by one member of Congress (R). MacBeth’s false statements unfortunately have played into the hands of those who would deny that any atrocities whatsoever are occurring in Iraq. While such murders by military personnel are reprehensible, ultimate blame for these actions must be placed on the responsible commanding officers, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Bush administration who have created the context for chaos in through an illegal and unjust war and occupation which they admit has no end in sight.
IVAW is a young and growing organization of courageous veterans and active duty soldiers in the “War on Terror” whose mission is to end the war in Iraq through immediate withdrawal of troops. We believe that veterans should be given the benefits they deserve upon returning home, and that the United States owes reparations to the Iraqi people for the destruction of their country. The invasion and occupation of Iraq was ill conceived and dishonestly sold to the American people, and IVAW members have the special vantage point of first-hand experience of the war to know why it’s wrong and why we need to bring the troops home now.
It seems to me,so many will think what they want to about what they want.No matter want is said,,want is the truth,I like to think I have a open mind most of the time,I hope I do anyway.I do believe the truth will set people as while as acounrty Free!! I prey to my God that it will. just thinking here myself, But as I do ,so many people are dying all over this world,and not just Iraq Thanks
The truth is hard to face for those who need to believe that American intentions are inherently Moral and Just though.
Stephen, regardless of your view of the veracity of this particular "ranger"'s claims, you need to bear in mind that the main thrust of the post was (in my mind, I could be misinterpreting here, but I don't think so) the terror inflicted upon the Iraqi people by this invasion (by terror, I'm referring to the 40,000 civilian casualties; it is widely understood that these casualties are a direct result of the U.S.-led invasion. Such a high casualty count is unacceptably in any "just" war, except, apparently, when the aggressor is America).
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