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His name is David Aguina and he’s an Army reservist. His UCMJ claims against Soltz seem thin to me — Article 88 prohibits “contemptuous words” directed at the president, not criticism, and Article 91 seems to apply only to lower-ranking soldiers and only when on duty — but it’s hard not to be moved by his story about his experience with Iraqis. Meanwhile, via LGF, one of the yKos panelists parries right-wing criticism of the incident with some clever stammering about chickenhawks. Unmentioned in his post: Glenn Greenwald, Atrios, Max Blumenthal, Ken Layne, and the countless millions of other...

A former Veterans Affairs official apologized Thursday for suggesting that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl may have left his post in Afghanistan five years ago because he was surrounded by “psychopaths.” “While I just wanted to make the point that the public should wait before passing judgment, I unfortunately used my own poor judgment in choosing inappropriate language that many view as disparaging to U.S. service members,” Brandon Friedman, who currently serves as a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, told BuzzFeed. “That was certainly not my intent and I regret making the comments on my personal account...

WASHINGTON — An official at the department of Housing And Urban Development whose criticized tweets suggesting that there could be questions about the military records of former platoon mates of Bowe Bergdahl apologized Thursday to service members and the Obama administration. “While I just wanted to make the point that the public should wait before passing judgment, I unfortunately used my own poor judgment in choosing inappropriate language that many view as disparaging to U.S. service members,” said Brandon Friedman, deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at HUD. “That was certainly not my intent and I regret making the comments...

A Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland is defending comments he made Monday in which he suggested his opponent, an Iraq war veteran, was not up to the task of a “real job.” Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler drew ire from a veterans’ group after he made the comments about his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, at an event held by the Tech Council of Maryland.

Four out of five veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan think the U.S. would be more secure if the nation were weaned off foreign oil, according to the results of a poll released Tuesday. The study, conducted by Lake Research Partners in February, also found that 64 percent of the surveyed veterans believe U.S. dependence on foreign energy endangers the lives of our troops by helping funnel money to hostile forces in oil-producing regions. The survey was commissioned by VoteVets.org, a group that has backed work in Congress to pass broad energy and climate change legislation. It comes...

Democratic Party organ VoteVets.org is attacking Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans in a series of dishonest ads tying terrorism with clean energy. This 501(c)(4) tax exempt group is supposed to be nonpartisan, but they appear to be an organ of the left wing of the Democratic Party. A quick trip to their front page shows they are endorsing three democrats for Congress and running hit ads against top Republicans. Due to the fact 501(c)(4) groups can take unlimited anonymous donations, it is unclear who is funding this group, but they seem to have a lot of money to throw...

A Denver-based veterans organization has voted to disband after accusing its founder of fabricating an identity as a former Marine captain who served three tours in Iraq and was at the Pentagon on 9/11. Thirty-two-year-old Richard Glen Strandlof, who used the name Rick Duncan, founded the organization, the Colorado Veterans Alliance, about two years ago. Major Carl Redding, spokesman for the U.S. Marines, said there is no record of Richard Glen Strandlof or Rick Duncan serving in the Marines. Strandolf appeared several times as a campaign spokesperson attacking Republicans in 2008 on national security issues. Colorado Republican State Chairman Dick...

Dems red-faced over veteran imposterDemocrats are incensed over how a man duped the party and veterans during the '08 campaign. By Michael RileyThe Denver Post WASHINGTON — Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado. He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org. And the...

December 09, 2007 Anti-War General Flip Flops on the Surge Rick Moran One of the Iraq War's harshest military critics, retired General John Batiste, has changed his mind and come out in support of the new counterinsurgency strategy. In a joint Op-Ed in the Washington Post with Pete Hegseth, executive director of Vets for Freedom, Batiste, who was a board member of the anti-war group Votevets.org, gives some of his reasons for the change of heart: First, the United States must be successful in the fight against worldwide Islamic extremism. We have seen this ruthless enemy firsthand, and its global...

An anti-war group consisting of veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is launching an ad Tuesday that attacks popular conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The group, VoteVets.org, is spending $60,000 on the ad, which will air on Fox News and CNN. In addition, a radio version of the ad will run during Limbaugh’s show in Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach, Fla., the group said. At issue is Limbaugh’s controversial “phony soldiers” remark that was made during a broadcast last week in response to a caller who criticized soldiers who spoke out against the war in Iraq. While...

"..To many in the anti-Iraq war movement, the liberal opposition to the bill was as maddening as it was mystifying. ?You really have two options here: One is that you can vote for a change of course here and say we?re going to find a way out of Iraq, or, two, you can vote against it and hand George Bush a victory,? said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of the anti-Iraq war VoteVets.org . ?It doesn?t make sense to me. George Bush got us into the war. They have challenged him on everything. Why would they give...