Another “Military Atrocity” Fraud Exposed (UPDATED, Carried Forward)

NOTE: This post originally went up shortly after midnight and has been carried forward, as we’re now learning that Jessie MacBeth wasn’t even in the Army.
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His name is Jessie MacBeth. The “Socalist Alternative” interviewed him. He had, as of last night when this post was drafted, this video at peacefilms.org (videos at YouTube were taken down).

Among this guy’s claims: “We were ordered to fire on peaceful protesters in Fallujah. Somebody threw a rock at us, and an officer said that he thought it was a grenade. Then we were ordered to fire. When it’s daylight in Iraq, it’s daylight! Nobody really thought it was a grenade.”

Others who have seen the full video report that MacBeth claims that he (or his group) executed 200 Iraqis as a Ranger per orders (Here’s a quote: — “By my hand alone almost 200 were taken out, that’s just a rough estimate.”).

He, is, so, busted, busted, busted.
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UPDATE: Wow, this is turning out to be a put-on for the ages (HT LGF) — “Mr. MacBeth has NO Army service record. Anywhere. Period.” Per Army spokesman John Boyce –

“Initial research by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg shows no Soldier with the name of Jesse Macbeth having ever been assigned to the Special Forces or the Army Rangers — which are, in fact, two separate disciplines. This appears to be some sort of hoax. No Soldier by that name at Fort Lewis to our knowledge, in the past, either. Of course, the line about “go into the Army or go to jail” is vintage TV script not heard since the 1960s. There are also numerous wear and appearance issues with the Soldier’s uniform — a mix of foreign uniforms with the sleeves rolled up like a Marine and a badly floppy tan beret worn like a pastry chef. Of course, the allegations of war crimes are vague, as are the awards the Soldier allegedly received.”

Just Citizens wonders:

This is a classic example of people who are pushing an agenda doing one of two things: 1. Putting these interviews out knowing full-well that Mr. MacBeth is lying, thereby purposefully spreading false and malicious lies about the great men who are Rangers or 2. Putting these interviews out without doing even the most basic research to determine whether Mr. MacBeth was telling the truth.

That’s a tough call. I would guess that the answer is behind both Door Number 1 and Door Number 2 at different levels of the food chain at The Socialist Alternative. Some were fooled (oh, they SOOOOO want it be true); others must have known it was a con, but didn’t care.

Just Citizens also has great follow-up thoughts and observations about those who are being forced to handle and explain their culpability and complicity in the charade.

UPDATE 2: Michelle Malkin has a great point at the end of her post, that this is an excellent opportunity to reinforce the debunking of the REALLY BIG antiwar lies. I therefore refer you to this tremendous piece by Peter Wehner at today’s OpinionJournal.com, AND to this BizzyBlog post on the “The ‘No WMD’ Lie.”

UPDATE 3: Blackfive is reporting an uptick in submissions to the site’s “Someone You Should Know” posts about what the real soldiers in Iraq are doing. Allah at Hotair is stunned: “The irony of this video bringing traffic to milbloggers and attention to real soldiers might be such that I have to lie down to absorb it all.” Call it one of the wonders of poetic justice, Allah.

UPDATE 4: Let’s give the kid credit; the act worked for over 2-1/2 years. Here are two items from Arizona Indymedia (keep scrolling — “Coffee Plantation Refuses Service to Black Veteran” (4/6/04); “Soldier struggles with memories of Iraqi war” (11/3/03).

And, by golly, he has a rap sheet (scroll down). And yet another.

UPDATE 5: Oh, this is fun. The inmates at Democratic Underground are in full-conspiracy mode. They’re so cute when they’re unhinged –

• Here’s one: “….. when people are trying to discredit a movement or potential leaders, they will go to any lengths and tell any lies. Including planting fakes that can later be used to discredit the movement.”
• And another: “When people are convinced a course of action is wrong (Iraq) some will go to any lengths to fight it. In this case it’s propaganda of War Crimes. All it takes is someone pouring a little bile in one ear and honey in the other to convince someone to go out and lie, lie, lie.”
• And more: “This kid sounds like he has some mental issues. Either that, or he is doing somebody’s dirty work by being a plant.”

UPDATE 6: Can you top this? Mudville Gazette (go to end of post) reports that there’s a bench warrant for MacBeth’s arrest in Pierce County Washington dated ….. May 23. Given all those who are mad at him, it may be that jail is the safest place for him.

UPDATE 7, May 24 — New stuff:

• Michelle has a minivid at Hot Air (I hope these stay posted; I would hate to lose access to this one).
• an unrepentant moonbat tells us that the fraud was still useful: “In any event it should be remembered that whilst many of Jesse’s claims were outlandish many of the things he speaks of almost certainly are being carried out right now and in our name. If this video can have any positive effect at all it will be to remind people that’s wars aren’t pretty, children and innocents get killed and that to make the decision to go to war is one of the gravest decisions that can be made ….. and should not be made on the back of a bunch of half truths, downright lies, and pinch of post 9/11 hysteria added to a shedload of Fox News propaganda.” Uh-huh.
• He also has a MySpace account that has now been modified with an obscene message (hence no link; you can find it elsewhere if it’s that important to you).

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Previous Post (November 6, 2005) — An Early-Stage John Kerry Has Been Outed

Also related: Two years ago, A Small Victory exposed a similar wannabe named Micah Wright. Start at the bottom.