“Winter Soldiers” Reporting for Duty!

"The term "Winter Soldier" is a play on the words of Thomas Paine in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriot and summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough." -- John Kerry

'Winter Soldier Syndrome' involves military personnel making up false claims, despicable lies and alleged atrocities about what they have done or seen which the media is all too eager to publish, print, and broadcast without blinking an eye or checking the facts. There is rarely substantiation and even more rarely an apology or retraction when proved false.

A few of Kerry's Winter Soldiers:

Jimmy Massey: a Marine Staff Sgt. who claimed to have witnessed and participated in the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Massey repeated his claim that his unit, and he personally, killed four demonstrators. But reporters and a photographer who were embedded with the 3/7 say there is no evidence such a shooting happened, no evidence that the Marines confronted any demonstrators so early in the war.

"There was certainly no organized protesting, no`Go home' ... When (the Marines) were driving into central Baghdad, they were cheered.” -- Ravi Nessman, an AP reporter who knew Massey while he was embedded with the Weapons Company.

The Associated Press finally acknowledged its own role in spreading Massey’s unsubstantiated smears.

Amorita Randall a former Naval construction worker, told The NY Times that she was in combat in Iraq in 2004 and in one incident an explosive device blew up a Humvee she was riding in, killing the driver and leaving her with a brain injury. She also said she was raped twice while she was in the Navy.

She never served in Iraq and a medal she received for service, which appeared to bolster her Iraq story, was awarded in error.

Scott Thomas Beauchamp: Army Private, Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division, and author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns. The fabulist recently signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods.

A statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad:

"An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims."

Beauchamp voluntarily recanted under oath on the first day of the military's investigation. As Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, "I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name."

UPDATE: New Republic Retracts Beauchamp Stories

 

Now, the following liar is not technically a Winter Soldier, he's a Phony Soldier:

Jesse MacBeth: was in the Army. Briefly.  For forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. He claimed to have served in Iraq as a U.S. Army Ranger, won a Purple Heart and to have committed war crimes with other Rangers. He was celebrated by peace groups and the Liberal Left as a 'hero' because of his 'courage' in telling the world about the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq: American soldiers 'slaughtering' hundreds of unarmed civilians, men, women, children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and distributed across the Internet: "We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque."

MacBeth was recently sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record.

Don't expect any retractions, corrections, or apologies from the anti-war left, the anti-military Media, or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse MacBeth's lies about our troops. 

  And the most infamous Winter Soldier of all:

John F Kerry former Naval Officer, failed presidential candidate, US Senator:

1971: Naval Officer Kerry, as a member of VVAW:

"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country." -- statement to Congress, April 22, 1971

December 2005: Senator Kerry, still smearing the US military:

"There is no reason that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, uh, uh, uh, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- of -- of -- uh, historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that."

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"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."
--Michelle Malkin