Nor did Jesse Macbeth know how to wear a Ranger uniform or even know what comprises a Ranger uniform.
Nor was he in Fallujah during the time he claimed he was killing Iraqi civilians and pillaging.
Nor was he wounded and stitched up by a Canadian nurse.
Nor was he a Ranger.
And he really wasn't even a soldier, since he was discharged from the Army during basic training.
Jesse MacBeth told a really big lie.
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’s public defender, Jay Stansell, declined to comment.
Organizations that opposed the war, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, posted videos or statements containing Macbeth’s claims on their Web sites. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage 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.
Iraq Veterans Against the War and other organizations removed the claims after learning they were false.
“He approached us in early 2006, posing as a war veteran. He seemed very emotionally distressed about his experiences,” said Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War, based in Philadelphia.
So several lies, actually.
But the lies he told were about American soldiers slaughtering Iraqi civilians in large numbers and desecrating their bodies and pillaging mosques. So his new friends on the Left believed every word he told them.
And the crew at Iraq Veterans Against the War believed him despite the failure of a so-called Ranger to even know how to wear a proper uniform.
Which makes me wonder how many actual veterans of the Iraq War--or even just plain veterans--are in Iraq Veterans Against the War. Shouldn't somebody there have said, "Ya know, Bob, that Jesse kid doesn't really seem like much of a Ranger. Do you think maybe we should check him out a bit before we splash his claims all over the media?" Bob responded, "No way John, he looks too smashing in that beret to be a fraud. Go with the story!"
Did a bunch of pretend veterans look at Jesse and fall for his tall tale because they all had no idea what a real soldier looked like? I mean, I was just a reservist and I didn't think much of his uniform-wearing skills when I heard about him.
Nah. Couldn't be. The simpler explanation is that a bunch of Leftie veterans who wanted very much to believe atrocities happen every day in Iraq (by our side, that is) simply could not question such a horrible story. "Too good not to be true" is the expression, I believe.
I'm sure this correction will be very visible in our media to reverse the unfair impression the charges left on our military.
