Posted on 09/21/2005 3:40:07 PM PDT by 68 grunt
P.O.W. NETWORK APPEALS FOR HELP
In light of the many appeals for help following hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, we realize that this is not a good time for POW Network to ask for help.
But we have no choice.
We must raise $15,000 by next Monday, September 25, 2005, in order to sign a retainer agreement with a Washington, D.C., libel defense lawyer.
After 16 years of serving the public interest, pro bono, by identifying and exposing thousands of military imposters, and making our research available without charge to countless individuals, organizations, and scores of law enforcement agencies (including the FBI), for the first time POW Network has been sued-by a World War II veteran who claims that the information we posted about him is false.
Although this is neither the time nor the forum for us to discuss the case, suffice to say that the information we published was obtained from National Personnel Records Center, and thus we believed it to be true. We still do!
Before being sued, several times we asked the veteran's lawyer for documents the veteran purports to have showing our information to be untrue. The lawyer imposed such unacceptable conditions on our use of any documents that we would have received, in good conscience we were unable to accept them. (Ironically, we will obtain all of the alleged documents in the discovery phase of the lawsuit, which we told the veteran's lawyer before we were sued).
P.O.W. Network intends aggressively to defend this case, which is pending in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, but we cannot ourselves carry the financial burden of defending this case and also asserting whatever claims we may have against the man who sued us.
Accordingly, we are in the process of organizing a defense fund. P.O.W. Network will not handle-that is, we will not directly receive or disburse-any of the funds contributed for our defense. They will be sent directly to a bank and disbursed by an independent individual (a retired Army Ranger) who has no connection to P.O.W. Network.
We have been informed that the eventual legal fees can be considerable, but right now, to retain the D.C. libel defense lawyer we've found, we must raise the $15,000 retainer by next Monday.
Our good friend Professor Henry Mark Holzer, who located the libel defense lawyer for us, has volunteered to work with him (pro bono). Each of these lawyers has confidence that we should prevail in the lawsuit, perhaps sooner than later and without the need for a trial.
Many of you who will receive this email, either directly or as a forward, know the work that P.O.W. Network has done these many years-and many of you have, in one way or another, benefited from it. We have never asked for help before, but we are asking for your help now. Not only to defend this lawsuit, and perhaps even assert our own claims, but to make sure that P.O.W. Network survives and thus we be able to continue our important work of identifying and exposing those who falsify their military service-even those from the World War II era.
All donations to P.O.W. NETWORK are tax deductible.
Donations should be mailed to Waukee State Bank, 45 N. Warrior Lane, P.O. Box 66, Waukee, IA 50263. ATTN: Cathy Asher. Note on the check P.O.W. NETWORK Legal Defense Fund Account # 10029692. The routing number for wire transfers is 073922490.
Thank you very much for considering our appeal.
Sincerely,
Mary and Chuck Schantag
P.O.W. Network
http://www.pownetwork.org
Bumparooonie!
http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies.htm
Yes. There are a lot of fakes out there!
bump the thread.
Who the heck is trolling the keywords?
They looks okay to me, but the Admin Mod probably already cleaned it up. Thanks.
I still see them there.
Wannabees?
Oh, that was the one I put when I dropped the thread :^>
So you were referring to the imposters?
Sorry, I thought someone was calling the Network wannabees.
Yes, I was suggesting that one of the subjects was 'wannabees' and another was 'wannabeehunters'. Thanks.
BUMP
Thanks for the *ping, snippy. This sort of thing--the whole military "wannabe" complex--is simply outrageous. Honorable men and women don't lie/inflate/exaggerate their military service.
There's nothing lower than a Fake Warrior, as is readily apparent by a cursory review of John "Seared Cambodia" Kerry.
BTTT!!!!!
BTTT
Thanks for the link Phil.
Thanks for the link.
From the link you gave:
FAKE WARRIORS
We are engulfed in a national scandal. Unknown to most Americans, there is a virtual epidemic of impostors in this country – countless thousands of men (and a few women)who, since the Vietnam War, have been either inventing a non-existent military service, or inflating their war records. Veterans’ benefits amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars are being stolen. Military decorations are being falsely claimed, and often worn, by men never authorized to receive them — the kind earned the hard way by genuine war heroes.
Unless something is done about these “Fake Warriors,” their shameless, self-aggrandizing, and costly conduct will not only continue unabated; it will grow. Anyone who thinks such conduct is merely offensive and relatively harmless is misinformed.
As we were.
During the research and writing of our prior nonfiction collaboration, “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam (www.hanoijane.net) – which proves that Fonda’s 1972 propaganda trip to Hanoi would have supported an indictment for and conviction of treason – we were privileged to meet many patriotic Americans. Most of them were Vietnam veterans. Some had been Vietnam prisoners of war. They made us aware, for the first time, of the Fake Warrior phenomenon which they, and others have been courageously battling for years.
Our Fonda expose, then, was the trigger that led to the book we have written on the subject of military "wannabes": Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service.
The existence of so many military impostors was a shocking revelation to us – as it will be to the American public. Once we began to investigate the Fake Warrior phenomenon in this country, we found the idea of writing a book on the subject irresistible – and, once again, the Fonda book was a strong motivating force. We had learned too much about the pain and suffering endured, not only by the Vietnam POWs, but by other troops who served in that theater. Our empathy with these veterans was almost visceral.
http://www.henrymarkholzer.com/index.php?subPageN=&mainPageN=Fake%20Warriors&UprPageN=henrymarkholzer
Oops, I meant to ping you all to #77.
Thanks to those of you who have responded so far.
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