Slander. It's what John Kerry would do. And when it happens, you just know things are going well with the surge. The left's latest stab at drumming up opposition to the war comes as a series of articles by someone calling himself Scott Thomas and claiming to be a soldier - a soldier on active duty in Iraq.
One private, infamous as a joker and troublemaker, found the top part of a human skull, which was almost perfectly preserved. It even had chunks of hair, which were stiff and matted down with dirt. He squealed as he placed it on his head like a crown. It was a perfect fit. As he marched around with the skull on his head, people dropped shovels and sandbags, folding in half with laughter. No one thought to tell him to stop. No one was disgusted. Me included.
The passage above is an excerpt from one of his stories. According to "Scott" he and his comrades were having a barrel of laughs as they indulged themselves in their depravities. That is if you can believe his story. Unfortunately for The New Republic, nobody who knows anything about the military in Iraq believes it.
...IED Babes.' We could have them pose in thongs and bikinis on top of the hoods of their blown-up vehicles." My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing...
...As he marched around with the skull on his head, people dropped shovels and sandbags, folding in half with laughter...
...I didn't see the third kill, but I heard about it over the radio. Everyone was laughing, nearly rolling with laughter...
Their unlikely hilarity knows no bounds. But long after its publication The New Republic has been unwilling to provide anyone with anything except its solemn word that the tales told by "Thomas" are true. And it's such an unlikely story. Matt Sanchez, for one, doesn't believe any of it.
I was at Camp Falcon earlier this month and didn't recognize any of what Scott Thomas described. So, I e-mailed the public affairs officer Major Luedeke at Camp Falcon:
Per COL Boylan's request, I have prepared the following:
1. There was no mass grave found during the construction of any of our coalition outposts in the Rashid District at any time. Such a discovery would have prompted an investigation and close attention paid at levels higher than ours to making sure that the victims were properly interred and attempts would have been made to determine their identities. It is difficult to fathom that a unit's leadership would condone Soldiers disrespecting the remains of anyone in the fashion described.
2. Due to the threat of IEDs, our combat vehicles are driven professionally and in control at all times. To be driving erratically so as to hit dogs or other things would be to put the entire vehicle's crew at risk and would be gross dereliction of duty by the noncommissioned officer or officer in charge of the vehicle. Drivers aren't allowed to simply free-wheel their vehicles however they see fit, and they are *not* allowed to be moved anywhere with out a vehicle commander present to supervise the movement. Therefore- claims of vehicles leaving the roadways to hit animals are highly dubious, given the very real threat of IEDs and normal standards of conduct.
3. As for the alleged woman with severe burn scars, we have nobody matching that description here at FOB Falcon. As Soldiers, we practice the value of Respect: "Treat people as you want to be treated." If the blogger and his friends can't live the Army value of respect, I have little doubt that someone around them who does would have made an on-the-spot correction. The Falcon dining facility is not a spacious one. Anyone being rude, loud or raucous calls immediate attention to himself. It is hard to fathom that anyone would be able to get away with such callous behavior without somebody intervening and stopping it from happening.
What it really means, is that the surge is going better than anybody ever expected. And that is what the Scott Thomas stories are intended to counteract.
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