Double, Double Toil and Trouble

From the 2007 Northwest Progressive website:

Iraq Veterans Against the War
TODD 302
1:00 - 2:20 pm on Friday, April 20th
Formerly served in Baghdad, 2003. Now a student in the VA vocational rehabilitation program at WSU. Will talk about soldiering, about the best way to support your troops, and about the impact the Iraq war has had on Washington State. Will leave some time for Questions and discussion.

I sure hope it wasn't this guy from Tacoma:



From Looking Glass News:

Jessie Macbeth blows the lid off that story. Macbeth is a former US Army Ranger, who served in Iraq for 16 months before being wounded and ultimately discharged. His squad did night raids, using the same techniques the Marines are accused of, 4 or 5 times a night for many months. Macbeth, who is now a member of "Iraq Veterans Against the War," was interviewed for the public access TV show "Indymedia Presents." His story is available here: www.peacefilms.org. In this interview Jessie describes killing children to make the parents talk. He describes one episode where his squad responded to the much-reported incident in Falluja where 4 US mercenaries were killed and hung from a bridge. Shortly after Iraqis killed the mercenaries, according to Macbeth, his squad of Rangers gunned down Iraqis praying inside a mosque on a holy day, then hung some of the bodies from rafters, and defaced the mosque with graffiti. Macbeth's hand held the smoking gun, and his testimony in this interview shows clearly that the Marines who are now in trouble for very similar actions are not the exception to US tactics in Iraq, but represent only one in many incidents of war crimes.

There's just one problem. In addition to being a scumbag anti-war protester, Macbeth is also a scumbag liar. From the Seattle P-I:

He wasn't an Army Ranger. He didn't earn a Purple Heart. He didn't witness war crimes in Iraq.

The truth about Jesse Macbeth? He's a fraud, and he's now facing prison.

Macbeth, 23, pleaded guilty in a Seattle federal courtroom Thursday to making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs and altering his discharge papers.

Kicked out of boot camp after 44 days, Macbeth instead portrayed himself as a decorated soldier who served in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was discharged due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"To me it's the same thing as theft," said George Berthiaume, a local spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "It just irritating. It takes away from those who served honorably and were wounded -- it's stealing from people."

For several years beginning in 2003, Macbeth became a star of the anti-war movement by claiming he saw and participated in war crimes in Iraq.

He gave interviews to news reporters and was popular in blogs and the alternative media. In a video that was widely distributed on the Internet, a frail Macbeth dressed in camouflage told of killing hundreds of civilians. "We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque," he said.

As part of the plea agreement, Macbeth admitted he had been lying. Anti-war Web sites have pulled his video.

Macbeth never got farther than boot camp at Fort Benning, Ga. He was discharged for his "entry-level performance and conduct prior to completion of basic training," according to court documents.

At sentencing in September, he faces up to five years in prison. He will remain in custody until then.

Before entering his plea, Macbeth told Magistrate Judge James Donohue he had been treated for mental illness before entering his plea. His attorney, Jay Stansell, said Macbeth, however, was fit to plead guilty.

"It boosts our morale every time they catch someone," Berthiaume said. "It's probably not doing much for him, though."

Turns out Macbeth has a lengthy criminal record in Arizona for credit card fraud as well (he was in a Phoenix jail at the time of his alleged atroctities in Fallujah).

Of course, the anti-war nuts and liberal media, including Daily Kos, bought into all this poser's nonsense hook, line and sinker and now have scrambled to distance themselves from Macbeth ("out, out damned spot!")

Next time, the BDS afflicted moonbats had better vet their vets.