Re:Taguba Report

[Greyhawk]

Blast from the past:

"We did not find any evidence of a policy or a direct order given to these soldiers to conduct what they did. I believe that they did it on their own volition and I believe that they collaborated with several MI (military intelligence) interrogators at the lower level," Tugaba said.

Maj Gen Taguba to Congress, May, 2004.

Re:Marc Train Wreck

[Greyhawk]

He's "real" - but...

Back in December The Nation magazine did a glowing profile on Appeal for Redress that included young Private Train:

A few of the antiwar dissidents lean more toward resistance than re-enlistment. Marc Train, 19, is an Army grunt stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and a signer of the Appeal. A native of Salina, Kansas, Train joined the Army right out of high school, convinced that he had no other real career prospects.
Some of his comrades in the Third Infantry Division are scheduled to deploy to Iraq for a staggering third tour of duty. For Train, it will be his first--if he doesn't refuse. He says he wasn't very political before enlisting, but now he's been radicalized. He realizes now he joined the Army only to get a job and that he's grown suspicious of the Administration's motives for war in Iraq. "I think it's all about oil," he says. Train has made clear to his superiors that he's not happy about deploying to Iraq and might refuse to step over the line when the mobilization order becomes effective in January. He's already lost the security clearance for the intelligence job he was trained for, and he's now enmeshed in a series of official investigations. "I want separation from the Army because I don't want to be just a cog in the machine. I've registered as a member of the Socialist Party USA."

Asked whether he will refuse duty if not given the discharge he seeks, Train answers: "That's a very strong question for me, a very strong consideration. Right now, I'm about 70 percent leaning toward not going."

We know that Appeal for Redress is an Astroturf campaign, begun by a Navy guy who joined so he could protest from the inside, and one might expect a few young GIs like Pvt Train to be fooled by the group. He certainly sounded like that sort when he left this comment on a reprint of The Nation's article at the Left-Wing web site Alternet:

Signer of the Appeal
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Dec 23, 2006 11:25 PM

Just wanted to make a statement that I, Marc Train, signed that Appeal.

Further, if anyone wants to hear more Servicemember testimonials...

That links to the print version that will appear in the upcoming issue of The Nation.

How awesome is it to be quoted in a publication that you subscribe to?

But the reality is that Train, like Hutto, joined the military for just this purpose. Note that Train uses the nickname "Merchant_of_Menace" when he comments at Alternet - as in this example, from an article on pirate radio stations:

RE: FCC: Give 'Em Back Their Equipment
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Aug 21, 2005 9:45 AM

Interestingly enough, Amnesty.org gave a recently favourable report on Chinese civil liberties, getting to a point where The Far East will rival the supposed 'freedoms' we have here in America.

Marc Train
Salina, KS

That odd use of quotation marks around the word freedoms might lead one to believe young Mr Train doesn't believe such things exist. Hardly a damning piece of evidence, even though it was posted a bit before this date:

On September 1, 2005, Marc Train was picked up at his house by a recruiter and delivered to the military entrance-processing station (MEPS) in Kansas City.

But while that comment might seem a bit tame, this even earlier screed is a bit more revealing into the nature of the pre-military mindset of our hero. From an August 1, 2005 Alternet story on John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court:

So what's that make me?
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Aug 1, 2005 2:03 PM

Fear not. His savvy PR is no match for a real American, the folks who break every last of their fibers just trying to survive in this country, and then have to wake up and go to work the next day.

Folks, this is no time for throwing our fates into elected officials' hands in the mainstream parties, or any party for that matter. What has it gotten us?

An 'elected' government that cares little for our own fates as they send our best off to die in a pointless struggle against people that come from the same kind of poverty-stricken background as most of the military is made up of.

An 'elected' government that continues to import our living wage jobs overseas, and sabotages the efforts of labor unions(many of which are led by corporate sell-outs).

An 'elected' government which continues to give the federal government more and more powers akin to an oligarchy.

The list goes on, but my point is that ALL of you need to take YOUR fates in YOUR own hands (or hand...or...you know what I mean) and come together in your communities, make a stand, show 'em they can't snuff your existence out without a struggle.

That strike me as an odd comment from a young man about to join the Army. But Train had strong opinions on a variety of topics beyond Supreme Court nominations and pirate radio, Here - just two weeks before entering Active Duty, he tries to sound off like he has a pair on an Alternet piece on military recruiters on school campuses:

RE: College gives you a more liberal mind
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Aug 13, 2005 2:33 AM

You know, the far-right always makes demons out of educated leftists, but they do need smart folks to preserve the elite's control. So, they figure, a healthy dose of mind-warping patriotism, courtesy of the DOD(that's Department of Defense for my liberal brethren who may have already been screwed by the looming 'Dark Age'), is just what they, the old elite, need, to raise a new generation of guards for the 'machine'.

And here are two more even earlier comments from July 30, 2005, left on an article about Oil Companies:

RE: at least Iraq will have power!
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Jul 30, 2005 3:47 PM

Your assumption that the insurgents would give a rat's ass whether or not we were actually doing anything to reconstruct the nation of Iraq's infrastructure is flimsy. These folks are pissed off that we invaded their country, regardless of what excuses we made to do it. They liked Saddam, and, interestingly enough, we've killed more civilians in our short couple of years being there than Saddam did during his ENTIRE RULE OF IRAQ.

If that's so hard to believe, why don't we have the Chinese invade us, and we'll see who cares whether they want to better our country or not (I would, but then again I'm no fan of the current government, anyway).

RE: at least Iraq will have power!
Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace on Jul 30, 2005 7:54 PM

Let me say one more thing about America's 'ownership' of the world. They haven't been around to tell me to stop telling me to talk about revolutions against this country I've been posting up on this website for the past couple of days. I have advocated open revolution, and Bush himself gave folks like me the very means to, with no extension on the assault weapons ban after it expired awhile back.

This country has gotten far too arrogant for its own good, and its gonna take alot to make this a mature, responsible country that does good for its people, and I mean the majority, not those folks who generously donate to the Democrats and Republicans to pass laws and keep us down.

And then, barely a month later...

On September 1, 2005, Marc Train was picked up at his house by a recruiter and delivered to the military entrance-processing station (MEPS) in Kansas City.

That's what Appeal for Redress is all about.

As noted previously, Train, like Hutto, is a guy who joined the military to do exactly what he's doing now. But if you want to believe this guy was a young sprout from Kansas who's eyes were opened to the evils of Democracy by Hurricane Katrina, be my guest.

Sy Hersh Finally Reads the Taguba Report

[ArmyLawyer]

If you can suffer through Sy Hersh's 9-page profile cum big wet one to MG Robert Taguba and find me one bit of new information within it, I'll give you a dollar.*

*Other than the fact that MG Taguba is five foot six, I did not know that before.