Does Service Guarantee Credibility? Anti-American lefties who make false claims regarding their military service seek credibility first. We saw it in the case of Edward Daily and others who tried to smear the honor of Korean War vets by making up lies about an incident they couldn't possibly have witnessed. We saw it in those who publicly opposed the Vietnam War while lying about their combat service there. We see make claims of military service in order to create a bully pulpit from which to oppose the war on terror, specifically Iraq.

One of the finest, recent examples is Jimmy Massey, a former Marine sergeant who did actually serve in Iraq. He used the credibility granted him by his service to try and discredit Corps and country. He also used it to make some money telling lies.

Massey authored a book about the supposed atrocities he and his unit committed. To get the book, titled "Kill! Kill! Kill!", published, Massey had to go all the way to France. (That should have been a clue!) In the book, he claims that during a six-week period in 2003 his platoon killed over 30 Iraqi civilians. These included peaceful, unarmed demonstrators.

"That day we shot the protesters in the Rashid complex was when I had a moment of clarity and I understood that by our actions of doing that, we set the tone overall for what the Iraqis were seeing and the brutality of what we were doing was being displayed," Massey claimed. "We in fact, I feel, escalated the violence. ... I spent long hours speechless and looking at the wall, seeing nothing but only images of the killed Iraqis."

The St. Louis Post Dispatch says Massey claimed that, "Marines fired on and killed peaceful Iraqi protesters. Americans shot a 4-year-old Iraqi girl in the head. A tractor-trailer was filled with the bodies of civilian men, women and children killed by American artillery."

Massey is a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a position which is no doubt profitable as he is sought after to speak to peacenik groups around the country. His claims should be troubling to all those who love this great nation and believe our troops should act with honor. They should be troubling, except for the fact that Jimmy Massey has been proven to be a liar.

"Each of his claims is either demonstrably false or exaggerated - according to his fellow Marines, Massey's own admissions, and the five journalists who were embedded with Massey's unit, including a reporter and photographer from the Post-Dispatch and reporters from The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal," writes Ron Harris of the Post Dispatch. "From the beginning, Massey misled reporters. ... The details of Massey's stories changed repeatedly. ... Nor could he name any Marine who could corroborate any of his stories. ... Massey was discharged ... due to depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome."

So, this darling of the left-media who exposed the "truth" about America's actions in Iraq turns out to be nothing more than a sad, unbalanced liar. At least he's got company in the ranks of those who lie for their own glory and gain. Not good company mind you, but company nonetheless.  ¶ Saturday, November 12, 2005