The Jimmy Massey Story, and the slime job by Ron Harris,"reporter".This story is bigger than one courageous war resister’s defaming by the media elite, it is a story about how a man such as Ron Harris, who works for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as a writer (or more accurately, a propagandist for wars of aggression, in the hollowed tradition of Judith Miller). As Paul Rockwell reminds us, Harris’s work was to sanitize the war, to make it palatable to the US public. Manufacturing Consent.
Some Background.Jimmy Massey is a self-described "good old boy" born in Texas; Massey was honorably discharged from the Corps in December 2003 after 12 years of active duty, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome. He has testified in court as to attacks on unarmed civilians in Iraq, and taking his concerns to his superiors with no action being taken. See-
Massey Testimony in Canada for War Resister Jeremy HinzmanWhen he went to his superiors about his changing perspective regarding the war, Massey was offered a desk job away from combat, he responded to this offer by saying “Thank you Sergeant Major, I don’t want your money anymore. I don’t want your benefits. You killed some civilians, and you’re gonna have to live with it partner, and I’m gonna tell the truth.” Massey hired a good lawyer which meant that he was discharged rather than court-martialed. Since his discharge, he has been telling the truth. It comes at a price.
The Marine Corp were not happy. So Ron Harris, embedded reporter, wrote a smear story, accusing Massey of not being truthful. Harris’s story does not hold up.
“When Harris made his accusations , however, he did not realize that Massey’s claims about civilian killings were already corroborated by three other Marines with whom he served. Their testimony is recorded on tape by Massey’s publisher and a Danish journalist.” -- Paul Rockwell -
Embedded Journalism At Its WorstI would highly recommend reading that
article to learn more about this smear campaign against Jimmy Massey. It says much about the current state of journalism in the US today. Harris’s bias is clear from his writings, not only his smear job against Massey, but through his months of writing about the war. For example, he proclaims “mission accomplished” (the very words appear in his text) two weeks before Bush made a fool of himself on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
I would also invite folks to check out the other resisters who have gone public with their refusal to participate in Bush’s War of Terror. See:
War Resisters, the Real Heroes.
Tragically, as we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, these words spoken just one year before he died, are still too truthful, especially for those who love our country:
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government.
Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
Let’s do all in our power to create a new America, and a new world. Jimmy Massey is one of those people who will make such a dream a reality.
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