Prelim Analysis - Mutiny Story is Set Up - call for a Post 47

Various - Daily News, Salon, ^ | 10/17/04 | Self

[Phsstpok]

The earlier thread about the October Surprise "Mutiny" hit piece on this mornings Today show prompted me to do some Googling to try to see if there were any connections of note.  I felt that even the little evidence I found warranted a quick heads up and (forgive me) a separate thread as a call to action.  I have no particular standing to do this, but this concerned me enough to fire off a flare.

It looks like the extreme left is orchestrating an October Surprise propaganda campaign against the war in Iraq and President Bush by staging a "mutiny" of reserve troops (appears to be 5 of 'em, when you get down to it) and playing it the way they played Abu Gharib. 

First, the basic story.  Reports surfaced on Friday, the 15th, that troops in Iraq had refused a "suicide mission" and were under arrest and held in close guard.  A small handful of "frantic" family members began reporting "unfair practices" and "unsafe conditions," desperately calling on (the usual suspects) politicians to save their loved ones from cruel fate.

Some excerpts:

Daily News, October 17, 2004:

'All of us refused to go'

Calls, E-mails explain troops' alleged mutiny

The military has begun punishing some of the 19 Army reservists who balked at what they called a "suicide mission" and a "death sentence" in Iraq last week.

Some members of the South Carolina-based 343rd Quartermaster Company refused to transport fuel between the Iraqi cities of Tallil and Taji Wednesday morning, saying they had no protection for the dangerous trip.

now here's the kicker from the Daily News piece:

Citizen Soldier, a New York-based, nonprofit military rights group, has offered ... its help.

Citizen Soldier is not a "military rights group."  It is a virulently anti-American and anti-Military extreme left front group.  Their motto on their web site is: "Prepared to Challenge U.S. Militarism in the New Millenium."

Citizen Soldier also has close ties to John Kerry, as it's director Tod Ensign, was one of the organizers of Kerry's discredited Winter Soldier propaganda event in 1969, along with Jeremy Rifkin.  This connection is the one that set off my alarm bells.

I couldn't figure the Mississippi angle till I found this in The Clarion-Ledger of Hattiesberg, Mississippi:

Platoon with Mississippi soldiers defies orders 17 soldiers placed under arrest in Iraq

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday. The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq - north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.

and again, buried in the piece, is the clue to the source and spin:

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he plans to submit a congressional inquiry today on behalf of the Mississippi soldiers to launch an investigation into whether they are being treated improperly.

Bennie Thompson is one of the more radical members of the Black Caucus.  He is a leader in the "fair play for Fidel Castro" movement in Congress.  He is often the designated "hit man" in attacking minority members of the Bush Administration, particularly Dr. Condoleezza Rice.  He was a rabid Deaniac, but shifted his loyalty to Kerry when Dean fell on his own scream.

The Salon hit piece ties this squarely to the Washington/DNC/Carville slime machine:

Revolt in the ranks in Iraq

The inside story of the Army platoon that refused to carry out a "death sentence" mission.

is by Mary Jocoby, Salon's Washington Correspondent.  Jacoby is one of Salon's "reliable" writers who can always be counted on to spew hate at George Bush, in particular, and Republicans in general.  She rates Seymour Hersh as a "crack investigative reporter" and has authored anti-Bush hit pieces such as  "The Dunce," "George W. Bush's Missing Year" and "Swaggering toward Election Day."

What is truly amazing about these pieces on the "mutiny" is that they appear to have been ready to go before the incident took place.  These folks had their stories straight and remarkably consistent in record time, even before the news had reached the regular news cycle on CNN, who jumped on this in record time. 

Folks, this is a set up.  But it's a set up that, like many of the Kerry camps dirty tricks, they've had to fire off prematurely to try to distract the news media from a Kerry gaffe.  Pulling the trigger on this was timed to try and keep the disastrous Mary Cheney attack off of the Sunday morning talk shows.  These soldiers are pawns who were told that they would be used to unseat a sitting President (with undoubted hints of vast rewards from a Kerry administration) but they are being sacrificed, just like pushing a pawn, to protect the dims' king.

[Phsstpok]

So are you saying that the mutiny never happened? What about the arrest of the mutineers? What about the soldiers' relatives?

the "mutiny" appears to have been 5 people, screwing with the other 12 people in their platoon. They didn't show up for a 7 AM briefing. We don't know that any of the ones besides these "ringleaders" even knew that there was supposed to be a briefing.

There apparently was no arrest. They were questioned by superior officers. You don't have to be under arrest to be questioned by a superior officer, and unless you refuse to answer all questions and demand a lawyer, you don't have any 5th amendment rights against self incrimination. Even with a lawyer you are required, I believe, by the UCMJ, to answer all questions from a superior office truthfully and you don't have the right to refuse.

And what about the soldiers relatives? That's what I'm trying to find out. So far it looks like it may be a handfull of dem activists (smell test, no concrete evidence yet, but I'm getting interesting bits and pieces).

[Martin Tell]

In church this morning, an elderly woman stood up during the prayer requests and announced that her great grandniece is one of the 17 reservists (her sister's granddaughter). The reservist's name is Amber and her mother is supposed to be on the Today show Monday or Tuesday.

That would be the Amber who called on her cell phone and whined she was being held against her will.

If you don't mind my asking, do you attend this church regularly? Was the "elderly woman" a regular attendee?

Another matter, many of these mutineers seem to have cell phones. I know of a few people in Iraq and their families complain about the limited communication. How come these guys are all walking around with cell phones and can all easily make international calls? Wouldn't routine procedure call for the confiscation of cell phones for those being "held against their will"?

[Phsstpok]

in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Tennessee? HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

Poor fellow... I'm from Memphis. ;^>

[R. Scott]

Folks, this is a set up.

I don’t know if it is a set up or just a case of the Hanoi John faction taking advantage of an incident.

[SheLion]

Anyone hear the call or know the explanation of why they had this available?

I heard the taped recording two times on Fox last night. The female soldier called her mom and told her to raise holy hell. The female soldier sounded calm but very determined. She didn't sound scared. She sounded mad.

Told her mom that they were being detained......held prisoner.

[backhoe]

Thanks, I hadn't looked at it yet.

[Martin Tell]

Knoxville is solid Bush country (from Nashville myself). I don't imagine the congregation took this too well. Especially since they were Lutherans. Now if they'd been Episcopalians ...

[TheSpottedOwl]

What a mess. It doesn't really surprise me, though.

[cricket]

"The mother didn't listen to it right away, then contacted a friend in the JAG office, who warned "don't hit an officer." Why the hell would that be his warning? How about "obey a lawful order?"

Thanks on this. . .

As to the question, can only offer a 'when push comes to shove'. . .bump. . .(!?)

[Iwo Jima]

I think that this was a small band of mutineers in search of an incident to mutiny over before the election. The incident that came along wasn't much to go on, but it's all that they had to work with in the time available.

That they didn't even show up for the meeting where their concerns might have been addressed tells me all that I need to know about them. Sargeant and Amber (and a few others) are in this up to their ears, and they either turned the others or maybe the Sargeant ordered them to go along.

[cricket]

"She didn't sound scared. She sounded mad."

Agree; and she sounded determined. . .

If their is a 'there'- here. Hope we get 'there' quickly on this one. For sure. . .

[prairiebreeze]

Freeper research ping

[MistyCA]

No. I was expecting this sort of thing but hoping none of our troops would be involved.

[papasmurf]

A SAFETY STAND DOWN! Their life will be hell for a few weeks, to say the least.

Uh, let's see here...that screw is rusty? Ok, take it off and steel brush it till it shines, soldier! Then put it back on, and call me when you're done-so I can re-inspect it.

ha-ha, they prb just shot themselves in the as...er foot!

:O)

P

[No Income Tax]

We attend every week (unless we are out of town). However, we normally attend an earlier service. I do not know if she attends regularly or not, but I did not recognize her.

[Phsstpok]

Citzen-Soldier.org is the one in New York, with the Kerry/VVAW connection. Here's their contact info:

Citizen Soldier
267 Fifth Ave., Suite 901 · New York, NY 10016
Phone (212) 679-2250 Fax (212) 679-2252

The other one (no hyphen) is out of Virginia, in fact it is on land originally part of George Washington's home:

Citizen Soldier
P.O. Box 4
Mount Vernon, VA
22121-0004

I'm going to send them (the no-hypen ones) an email to ping them to this thread and to the organization that may be trying to trade on their good name.

[prairiebreeze]

bttt

[No Income Tax]

I don't imagine the congregation took this too well. Especially since they were Lutherans. Now if they'd been Episcopalians ...

We will be finding out how the rest of the congregation took it over the next few days. Needless to say, we did not take it too well.

[familyop]

"It seems there was a group promulgating dissention among soldieers, going around telling them of their rights etc. Kerry was in on it."

Cajungirl, I've been getting telephone reports from Mississippi over the past four years saying that television (even local news, sometimes) there is a little heavy with anti-Republican and anti-defense conspiracy stories. And there was word that a reserve component (Guard or Reserve) there were trained by the Red Cross and was given big "first responder" and "courageous" Amazon warrior-ess kind of publicity during events like Hurricane Ivan.

...you seen anything of that?

Also, for the rest of you, service and supply units are not organized into "platoons." They're organized in "sections" and are way not combat oriented. In combat, they would be like fish out of water.

[applemac_g4]

ELCA, Missouri Synod, or Wisconsin Synod?