IVAW: Time to Put Up or - Retract!

Welcome Michelle Malkin readers, and thank you Michelle! The Reporters Guide, which is not just for reporters BTW, and a lot of material on IVAW and Winter Soldier can be found by following the links at the top left of the page.

Winter Soldier Investigation - Iraq and Afghanistan begins today - and it is time for IVAW to put up or retract. Watch for testimony from the following (or not!), andnote whether it matches previous statements made over the months and years.

Speaking with a half dozen IVAW members identifed by name in one of his dispatches ("What Have We done?") in August 2005, Dahr Jamail wrote:

"I type furiously for three hours, trying to keep up with the stories each of the men shared….about the atrocities of what they saw, and committed, while in Iraq."

The IVAW members present for those hours of atrocity "testimony" were Abdul Henderson, Alex Ryabov, Camilo Mejia, Harvey Tharp, Michael Hoffman and Charlie Anderson. The details of those atrocities were not given.

Now, with Winter Soldier unfolding and in front of the cameras, those IVAW members can open up! Hours worth of atrocities!

Of course, there is a bit of backtracking. While Jamail wrote of the atrocities "they saw, and committed", and quoted Harvey Tharp as saying:

“Most of what we’re talking about is war crimes…war crimes because they are directed by our government for power projection.”

...just last month Tharp was quoted in the Yemen Times as saying he had never personally witnessed any American atrocities in Iraq, but he had come to “know about certain cases”.

Member Camilo Mejia was quoted by Jamail as saying:

"I tortured guys..."

However, when asked in a March 2005 interview with Amy Goodman if he had ever engaged in actions that could be considered abuse or torture of detainees, Mejia replied:

"Not really..."

Mejia also made no such claim about personally abusing or torturing detainees at his Court Martial for desertion, when such could have assisted his case.

That leaves a heck of a lot of atrocity detail that has to come from Abdul Henderson, Alex Ryabov, Michael Hoffman and Charlie Anderson. Hours worth!

Unless someone was lying - or allowing a lie to be spread and was quiet about it for a long, long time.

Henderson, Ryabov, Mejia, Hoffman, Tharp, Anderson - time to ante up!

• Be sure to read the next post, Jesse MacBeth to Winter Soldier: Exposing Dahr Jamail.

• If you are still not sure what all the fuss is about, read Touching Nerves, Hearts and Painful Memories.

• Check out and stay tuned to the milbloggers who will be attending WSI and others who will be following events: Bloggers and Milbloggers at Winter Soldier.

• The funniest post title of the year, at Chickenhawk Express!