Post by Moses on Jan 21, 2006 10:47:04 GMT -5
Cost of the War in Iraq
$235,268,826,220
Is Ron Harris telling the truth?
By Jimmy Massey
My story has been widely published in mainstream American and international press, as well as widely circulated on right-wing pro-war websites, for more than 1 year and 8 months. In December, 2004, MSNBC interviewed Pentagon Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Douglas Powell about me saying, “We’re not saying he’s lying, but his perception of what the situation was in relation to the rules of engagement, and what was justified, is different than ours.” In a letter written to the editor of the Mountaineer, which was the first newspaper to publish my story in February 2004, Major Dan Schmitt said, “There is no profit for anyone by discrediting his story in any way.”
Prior to the Marine Corps’ briefing my unit to refuse to make any comment regarding me, my claims were corroborated in interviews with my fellow platoon members conducted by Natasha Saulnier, the co-author of my autobiography “Kill, Kill, Kill.” One of my platoon members, speaking from Camp Pendleton, CA, last winter said that “Civilians get in the way… Yes, there were civilian casualties, women and children as well… we didn’t check them up to see if they had weapons… yes, that was at the checkpoint where all the stuff happened.” Another admitted that “We were all pissed off [at shooting women and children]. Nobody was doing it on purpose,” and another corroborated the incident in which our platoon had fired on and killed unarmed protestors.
Beverley Ann Dexter, the Navy psychiatrist who performed my exit examination back home, wrote on record that “the patient initially presented to the mental health dept on 30 May 03 after he was medivaced back from the Iraq war with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder and PTSD, recurrent. He reports that he had become extremely distressed over seeing many dead bodies of individuals in civilian clothes. A particularly disturbing event was an occasion when a man questioned him about why troops had killed his brother whom the man said was a civilian.”
Major newspapers and media outlets published my story. Neither the Marine Corps nor any of my platoon members filed any charges against me as a result of my claims in over 20 months. Nor did they attempt any defamation campaign to counteract my allegations that the large numbers of civilians killed in the invasion, as a result of failed strategies, fomented anti-American sentiment, and fueled the insurgency.
Until Saturday.
Quantico Marine Base Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. Richard Long, former director of Public Affairs and the embedded reporter program in Iraq, began circulating an article Monday published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Saturday, November 5, by former embedded reporter Ron Harris, accusing me of lying. Harris not only was not assigned to my Weapon’s Company, (he was with Lima), and was not present for any of the incidents he disputes, but before last week, had not spoken with me once since my return.
On Monday, Harris appeared on CNN’s “American Morning,” in an unrebutted interview stating, “not only did I not see any protesters, nobody saw any protesters,” and “nobody ever interviewed the Marines, which I did all of. Nobody ever checked his story. They don't even have another source that says on background or another source who didn't want to be quoted.” Apparently, it is more important to Ron Harris to promote fiction than tell the truth. When he finally did call me and my co author two week’s ago to prepare his article, I told him I didn’t know how he could live with himself by concealing the truth, and told him “he would have to answer to a higher power.”
Harris’ apparent contempt for me seems to stem from the fact that one and a half years ago, I exposed him for having greatly embellished an incident at Rasheed Military complex in his April 9, 2003, article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. (Note the byline confirms Harris’ assignment to Lima Company). In the article, Harris described a dramatic, daylong battle glorifying heroic deeds and describing guerillas “hiding behind civilians.” Speaking at the Boston Veterans for Peace Convention in 2004, I said Harris had greatly exaggerated the combat in what was subsequently hailed as an example of American military prowess. I confessed publicly that “contact that day was thin and sporadic,” and that “as my unit entered Iraq it came upon empty Iraqi military bases with weapons lying on the road.” I noted that ‘We shot it up with everything we had, and we were laughing and having a good time. The Iraqis let us in the country; we didn't take it.’
It is ironic that Ron Harris should accuse others of bad reporting. It was Ron Harris himself that misquoted me as having mentioned a 4 year old with a bullet in her head, and then conveniently used his own misquote to accuse me of lying. Simply doing a web search for “Jimmy Massey” and “4 year old,” you will find that the only source even suggesting that I knew of an incident when Marines had killed the child is Harris’ own story. My only related quote had been “Lima Company was involved in a shooting at a checkpoint. My platoon was ordered to another area before the victims were removed from the car. The other Marines told me that a 4-year-old girl had been killed.”
Most importantly, this incident is not even mentioned by me and my co-author in “Kill, Kill, Kill” because it relied on a second hand account. Harris would know this if he had read the book that he denounced so virulently on CNN and in his article, but he has not and cannot read it because it is only out in French, a language he openly admits he cannot speak. After nearly 2 years of remaining silent despite knowledge of my confessions, why has Harris saved his charade for the publication of a book of which he has absolutely no knowledge?
Fumbling for incriminating evidence, Harris reports that “while touring with Sheehan in Montgomery, Ala., told of seeing the girl's body.” Cindy Sheehan and I were never together in Montgomery. In a similar confusion, Harris goes on to claim that I have said I personally killed a 6-year-old. Before numerous interviews and reports frayed its edges, my original statement had been “I brought these series of events up through the chain of command. Each time I was told they were terrorists, or they were insurgents. My question to the Marine Corps at that point became, how was a 6 year old child with a bullet hole in its head a terrorist or insurgent?”
In the aforementioned April 9, 2003, article, Harris refers to a makeshift morgue and quotes Lt. Col. Belcher, commander of third Battalion, 7tth Marines without deeming it relevant to make further investigation, “These are apparently Iraqi soldiers that were killed in the attacks. Some people had leg wounds, chest wounds, tears, cuts, shrapnel holes.” Why did Ron Harris swallow the command’s stories?
Apparently, Harris didn’t read any more of the articles in USA Today or Vanity Fair that he cites in his article than he did of “Kill, Kill, Kill.” USA Today and Vanity Fair never published my accounts of mounting civilian casualties in Iraq. Both of these stories were about military recruiting practices, and not concerned with Iraq.
If Ron Harris or the Marine Corps Public Affairs office wants to mount a smear campaign against me and those who published my story, they could begin by buying a couple copies of the book. They will be pleased to know that a portion of the profits will go to establishing PTSD treatment centers for US Veterans.
Semper Fi,
Jimmy Massey