Siddiqui scandal: Amerika's military is a national disgrace

"Siddiqui's father is an auto-parts worker who was returning from his night shift when he first heard the news that his son was dead. He recalls seeing an ambulance parked in front of his home. Inside, first responders were attending to Siddiqui's mother, who had just received the news." - Eric London, in his excellent article, "20-year-old Muslim recruit killed by officers at Marine boot camp."

I just love it when Americans are confronted with uncomfortable truths about their inane love affair with the military. The usual response is a nervous chuckle as they put a dumb look on their faces, zip their lips, and tuck their cowardly tails. Big Brother has brainwashed his subjects well: musn't criticize Amerika's goon thug military, no matter how heinous the conduct. I blogged about the deafening public silence when the investigative report was released regarding the Marines drowning Jason Tharp, and the appalling lack of adequate public outrage has once again emerged, though not quite as deafening, regarding the alleged suicide of Muslim recruit Raheel Saddiqui, whose Arabic surname, ironically enough, means "The Truthful." One Muslim recruit was forced into an industrial clothes drier, got severely burned, and broke into tears. Saddiqui wound up dead. Jacob Weaver, a former Marine who was in Siddiqui's unit, decided to expose the horrors of boot camp "training," thereby prompting the current investigation.

It must have been a real shocker to the thugs who run Parris Island that someone dared to speak out so publicly about Marine Corps "training." The courageous Jacob Weaver is due a BIG round of applause. Fact is, the Marine Corps has an appalling history of scandals dating back at least to the 1950's.  .

Conspicuously missing from all the mainstream media accounts of Marine Corps brutality inflicted on recruits is any mention of the drowning of Marine recruit Jason Tharp.

Had it not been for the decades-long, cowardly public silence in response to previous instances of criminal military conduct, the racially-charged atmosphere of Marine Corps boot camp and the abuse of Muslim recruits would not have happened. The public has given America's military the go-ahead for any kind of barbarism imaginable, even when it's directed at hapless young recruits.

The death of Raheel Saddiqui features headline-grabbing visits by two politicians to Parris Island, both of whom are willing to accept the Marine Corps' word for it that Saddiqui - who had no history of mental problems until he entered the Marine Corp - committed suicide. Never mind that the Marine Corp was caught lying about the circumstances of Jason Tharp's drowning (initially claiming he entered the water voluntarily), and never mind that boot camp bigotry was exposed in 2006 (!) by no less of a veteran than a retired Marine sergeant who wrote an article aptly titled "Learning to be a Killer." Note that 2006 is the same year the Army got exposed for its pornographic torture of Muslims at Abu Ghraib. Based on my own experience, I wrote about how the Army indoctrinates recruits with sexual filth.

Siddiqui's family vehemently disagrees with the allegation of suicide, maintaining that there's insufficient evidence to warrant such a conclusion, and they have now filed a 100 million dollar lawsuit against the Marines. Their efforts are supported by Rep. Debbie Dingell, (D) Michigan.

Raheel Siddiqui was a personable young man, much like the accounts given of Jason Tharp, and Siddiqui's family is to be commended for challenging the allegation of suicide. The racially-charged circumstances of Siddiqui's death cry out for long overdue national honesty regarding Marine Corps. misconduct. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) apparently has a problem when it comes to drawing logical conclusions based on findings of fact. By what standard of Orwellian mumbo jumbo did the drowning of Jason Tharp amount to anything other than cold-blooded, first degree murder? It would have made just as much sense had the NCIS concluded that Jason too somehow committed suicide.

A country with a scintilla of fundamental decency would have protested in massive numbers at the gates of Parris Island when Jason Tharp's investigative report was released.

In addition to making racist thugs out of "the troops," when the US military burns Korans, tortures Muslim prisoners, and singles out Muslim recruits for racially-charged harassment, it fans the flames of America's illegal wars and helps keep profits flowing to the security-industrial complex. What better way to stoke up Amerika's war machine than verbal and physical assaults directed at Muslim recruits, not to mention the worldwide publicity that would surely result if one of those recruits wound up dead? Marine General Smedley Butler got it right, way back in the 1930's, in the title to his book, "War is a Racket." At the time of his death, General Butler was the most highly decorated combat Marine in US history.

How did Americans come to be so cowardly, so brainwashed, so spiritually dead that they tolerate anything a tyrannical government and its goon thug military dishes out? Dr. Paul Craig Roberts tells it like it is in his article, "Americans are a conquered people." They "live in a propaganda-fabricated world in which a brutal police state is cloaked in nice words like 'freedom and democracy.".

Update 3/13/2018 - Marine officer pleads guilty to charges associated with Siddiqui's death.

Update 11/11/2017 -It was announced yesterday that a drill instructor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for abusing Muslim recruits, one of whom was Raheel Siddiqui. Here's a link to another article. 

The joy of refusing to vote

"If Americans had any sense, no one would vote in the November election." From a 10/13/2012 article by former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts.

Just gotta say: Refusing to participate in America's electoral system has been one of the most liberating experiences of my life. What a joy it is to be rid of Democrats, Republicans, and those would-be contenders running as Independents or - worse yet - clamoring for the "write-in" victory. Uncle Sam and the corporate thugs who call the shots in this country don't care who you vote for. Repukes and Demagogues are their puppets. Other candidates don't stand a chance. The objective is to sucker people into conforming. Get 'em to wear a red, white, and blue "I Voted" button on Election Day.

If you ever have time, read Anthony Downs' "An Economic Theory of Democracy." Ah, that beautiful touch of sarcasm in the title. Politicians don't worry about goodness or badness. They try to maximize their votes. Period. Its the only political behavior that's rational 'cause they gotta get votes to be in office. But maximizing votes takes money. And money is monopolized by about one percent of the population. Champagne sippin' bigwigs. Folks entrenched in perverse corporations that profit from stuff like American imperialism and taxpayer-financed bailouts for big banks. Crystal glasses tipped in a toast to "rich man's war - poor man's fight." Ever notice how the Repukes and the Demagogues always get together when it comes to that sort of thing? Shhh...

Grateful Dead legend Bob Weir put on a frantic effort to get folks to vote. Wonderful soundtrack. Misguided cause. I love it when people point out the role money plays in politics while simultaneously claiming they've found a candidate who'll beat the system. Win without corporate backing. Change the world. Save the planet. Happens every election. One of the best parts of the show. Twitter offered real-time feedback to Bob's effort, and I tweeted a link to my post titled "Why I don't vote."

Let's face it. America's military-industrial complex is in control. Power that ain't gonna be handed over at a ballot box. Look no further than recent legislation (NDAA) giving ol' Uncle Sam the right to incarcerate U.S. citizens for as long as he so desires without even filing charges. Wanna send a message to the warmongering thugs that run this country? Simple. Refuse to vote. Let 'em know you've caught on their two-headed one party sham.

I'm reminded of the notion that in times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. Whatever. Come Election Day, at least I'll save the gas money it would cost to get to the polls and back.

Update 3/9/2017 - Ron Paul has it right: Voting is just a means of pacifying the public, the Deep State calls the shots.

Update 11/10/2016 - Real hoot watching the Electoral College make a mockery of this year's presidential election. Kinda fun watching an outsider "win," but no candidates were worth my time, and the one with the most votes wasn't elected anyway. It was also nice to see Big Brother's mainstream media exposed as a tool of the 1%. Talk about the absence of a free press...

Update 11/13/2014 - Hooray for the LOWEST national turnout in 72 years for mid-term elections. Newsday's article offers an apt summation from the field of Political Science: "It's moving away from a worry to a crisis," said Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz. "We are not talking about a natural ebb and flow. We are talking about a deep dip. . . . This could be a harbinger of a fundamental shift that we need to think very hard about." Maybe - just maybe - folks are indeed waking up to the government's voting scam. 

Update 11/7/2014 - I'm delighted that South Carolina's voter turnout for mid-term elections is the lowest in four decades. Hopefully, folks are wising-up to the government's voting scam.

Massacre's whitewash - America's shame

The military proceedings have been a sham from the get go. From the time the Marines initially lied about what happened, to this week's plea bargain, which means not one single participant will serve even a day for the horrific killings of 24 civilians at Haditha, Iraq, back in 2005. Women, unarmed men - one 76-year-old amputee in a wheelchair - an infant, and children.

Including toddlers.

What kind of cowardly country is this, anyway? The facts were never in doubt, and former congressman John Murtha summed them up as "cold blooded murder." But before I go any further, I want to commend movie producer Nick Broomfield for his meticulous efforts in documenting what happened, and for his candor regarding the mentality of America's armed forces: "Its a thought process that justifies wanton, crazed killing, that demands a high five when a soldier announces they've killed an innocent child." Nick's award winning movie, "Battle for Haditha," needed to be produced.

One aspect of all this struck an especially strong chord with me. The final coat of whitewash was applied after troops involved in the massacre began to make connections between the massacre and the kind of training they had received.

The kind of training? Really?

My mind flashed back to the case of Marine recruit Jason Tharp, and the fact that this trainee's drowning - and previous assault - took place in front of other recruits. An ill, teenage recruit forced into a pool, screams unheeded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, finally bobbing to the surface unresponsive. At one point, a swim instructor had even shoved Jason's head deeper into the water. Training indeed. What else are America's Nazi style storm troopers indoctrinated with before they're turned loose to terrorize those hapless inhabitants of foreign lands? And another thing. Like the victims in Haditha, Jason was poor. Defenseless. Pathetic.

I won't belabor the bloodcurdling facts of Haditha, the fraudulent war in Iraq, or the military's shamful (sic) response to an obvious massacre. That said, I ponder the notion that America has "gone too far" and is beyond redemption. Beyond reason.

Beyond sanity.

2/15/2015 update - I've come across two articles by ex-Marines exposing the way the Corps turns people into mindless killers: "Marine Corps Recruit Drownings: Dying to Serve Your Country" and "Learning to be a Killer." Apparently, I was right on target about Jason Tharp's drowning - sadistic, cold-blooded murder if ever there was - taking place in front of other recruits. 

Military rapes prompt censorship

Women serving in the U.S. military are now more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.

Censorship is alive and well at Facebook. I first encountered their devotion to free speech when I criticized Toyota, and starting with a recent post targeting obscene living conditions in the military, Facebook's censorship has ratcheted up considerably.

Facebook doesn't necessarily block postings outright, so you need to be informed and vigilant to determine if you're in the crosshairs. Just because a post appears on Profile and Home pages doesn't mean the post appears publicly in real-time. To see what I'm talking about, after you've posted something (assuming you've set your submissions to appear publicly), search a keyword, click Public Posts, and see if your post appears. Unless Facebook is censoring, your post should be there by the time you navigate or else appear within seconds. The bigger picture is that these postings can also be searched in other venues, such as Openbook and Bing. If you're being censored from Facebook's real-time Public Posts, you're really being censored.

Facebook's latest round of censorship started with my 9/21/2011 post, "Soulja Boy's Army style language." Addressing the verbal garbage young people are exposed to in the military and pondering its relevance to instances of rape must have set off a five star alarm. Blam. The post was blocked from real-time Public Posts, and subsequent posts, regardless of the topic, have also been blocked.

The Soulja Boy post was more explosive than I realized.  A Google search revealed that it was embarrassingly relevant to the military's continuing epidemic of rape cases, involving both male and female victims. The situation was headlined in one article as the Army's "dirty secret."    

So hey, Uncle Sam: I understand. The government's gotta be careful 'bout the truth gettin' out. Might make it difficult findin' fodder to fuel those imperialistic wars. After all, keepin' stuff quiet is how the land of the free managed to murder 58,000 of its own in the jungles of Vietnam.

Update 10/20/2011 - Facebook has blocked this post from appearing in real-time Public Posts.

Update 3/6/2017 - The latest military sex scandal involves nude, pornographic photos of Marines and veterans.

Soulja Boy's Army-style language

I enlisted during the Vietnam Era. To say the military environment has gotten worse over the years is quite an understatement. Enter a rape epidemic featuring both heterosexual and homosexual assault, generals facing charges of adultery and forcible sodomy, and the list goes on and on. Wow.

Soulja Boy sure got the military up in arms when he utterd "f" the Army, and then dared advise troops to "be your own man." Somewhat curious though, was the absence of any indignation over Soulja Boy's trademark four-letter filth. In fact, as the military rushed to ban Soulja Boy recordings, the language thing seemed to be virtually off limits. And I think I know why.

Make no mistake: The Army was the absolute filthiest environment I ever had the misfortune to be in the midst of. Granted, I was no doubt a bit naive when I enlisted, but in all fairness, I was also a teenager. Like Marine recruit Jason Tharp.

That ol' Army recruiter really had me suckered. Slick literature, warm handshakes, and cordial, seemingly earnest conversations sorta like you might expect from a Sunday school teacher. Never ever not once did he utter so much as even the mildest slang.

Right. And talk about a rude awakening. When I started basic training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, four-letter filth spouted by those in charge was constant ad nauseum. And the "f" word reigned supreme. From sergeants to officers, there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to keep young minds in the gutter. On one occasion, a major was directing a march, and our group was to repeat after him an obscene scenario as we marched in cadence to the words. It depicted an encounter with a girl named Mary, concluding with "and there I f'd her on the ground."

Over the years, and especially considering the Army's pornographic torture of prisoners at Abu Graib, I've come to wonder if the constant barrage of verbal garbage has an even more sinister intent than one might think. Is it aimed, perhaps, at densensitizing "the troops" to such things as contrived sexual degradation? The programming, perhaps, of a subconscious willingness to rape, literally and figuratively, those hapless inhabitants of distant lands? I've had similar thoughts regarding the gang style savagery dished out - in front of other trainees - to Marine recruit Jason Tharp.

Soulja Boy's filthy, Army style language is most certainly repulsive. Nonetheless, he apparently suffered a few rational thoughts regarding the hired guns that carry out America's imperialistic, undeclared wars, dared to exercise a bit of free speech, and got waylaid by a country that can stand most anything except the truth.

Update 6/13/2017 - Here's a link to today's excellent article, "So, Your Daughter Joined the Military," by Laurence M. Vance

Update 10/6/2011 - Facebook blocked this post from appearing in real-time Public Posts, and immediately started blocking all of my subsequent posts from appearing in that venue, regardless of the topic. This latest bout of censorship remains in effect.

Updates 5/22/2013 -
The commanding general of Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, Bryan Roberts, has been suspended in connection with charges of adultery and involvement in a physical altercation: http://www.wistv.com/story/22378270/fort-jackson-commander-facing-adultery-charges 

As mentioned above, this post met with censorship. That prompted me to publish another post, "Military rapes prompt censorship"

Update 5/5/2015 - Had to laugh regarding recent news that Christians are finally viewing the military as a "hostile work environment." Somehow, ever since reading the Sermon on the Mount, I've been unable to visualize Jesus decked out in a military uniform, intent on butchering His enemies. One of my all-time favorite literary works is Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." War is as un-Christian as anything gets.

Update 6/19/2019 via Dr. Paul Craig Roberts:"Classified: US Troops Rape Boys In Front Of Their Mothers" - more info has come out re the sexual hoorrors inflicted by American troops at Abu Graib.

Where was the outrage over Jason Tharp?

Oops. Just when the land of liberty and justice for all had its heart set on another sadistic spectacle of the death penalty, a jury ruins everything by declaring Casey Anthony not guilty.

Enter street protests, threats, a $100,000 lawsuit filed against the exonerated for lying, blabberings on social media websites, heated debates on talk shows, articles by the zillion, petitions for yet another law, and politicians introducing bills. Behavior ushered in by the televised theatrics of Nancy Grace and a mainstream media that followed her lead as soon as they saw her ratings skyrocket. ABC even jumped in with a $200,000 payment to Casey's parents for licensing rights.

Okay...

So where was the high profile media attention and public outcry over the whitewashed case of Marine recruit Jason Tharp? He was the teenager - known to be a poor swimmer and ill with a respiratory infection - who wanted out of the Marines and then drowned. Ordered to get in the water or be thrown in, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under up to six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomitted before bobbing to the surface unresponsive. At one point, a swim instructor shoved Jason's head deeper into the water. And talk about lying. The Marines initially claimed that Jason entered the water "voluntarily."

Where was mainstream media's blaring of these bloodcurdling facts? Where were the play-by-play howls from someone like Nancy Grace? And where, oh where, was the torn-to-tears, infuriated, obsessed-with-justice American public? I'm not sure which was more abhorrent: the way Jason died, or the cowardly silence after the investigative report was released.

I'm far from convinced that the jury got it right regarding Casey Anthony and the death of Caylee. Folks have been convicted on less evidence, and the whimsical nature of juries is one of many reasons I oppose the death penalty. But I won't be joining the national outrage. Considering a country willing to turn a deaf ear to the screams of Marine recruit Jason Tharp, there's way too much wrong with the picture.      

Tharp case still makes me cry

I initially blogged about this case as it unfolded, then re-titled the blog and condensed my comments.

As far as I know, nothing has ever shut mainstream media up like the gang style savagery dished out to Marine recruit Jason Tharp, the teenager who wanted out of the military, then drowned during "training." Forced to tread water, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomited before bobbing to the surface unresponsive. At one point, a swim instructor shoved Jason's head deeper into the water.

Facts came to light only because NBC affiliate WIS-TV (a Columbia, S.C. station producing a series about the military) happened to videotape an instructor assaulting Jason on February 7, 2005 - approximately 24 hours before the next day's drowning - and turned their evidence over to authorities. The video prompted a brief spate of national media attention, but when the investigative report came out, it was hush up time in the land of the free. The Associated Press release - headlining Jason's death as "preventable," was an exercise in deceit, omitting the bloodcurdling facts and even getting it wrong regarding the videotaped assault. Jason was not merely "hit on his arm." In fact, the video is heart-wrenching, showing an emaciated teenager being yanked around and then knocked backward as he walks toward the WIS-TV camera crew - probably in a desperate attempt to get help. The tape does not include audio, and it was later revealed that Jason - a poor swimmer who had been diagnosed with a respiratory infection - was also being threatened with jail for refusing to get in the water. He had written home complaining of being singled out for harassment, and the day the drowning occurred, Jason was told to shut up and get in the water or be thrown in (the Marines lied, claiming Jason entered the water "voluntarily"). Jason's parents and his sister had been trying to persuade the Marines to discharge Jason, and when the Marines arrived at their home with news of Jason's death, the family thought they were going to be told that Jason would soon be back home.

The investigative report is almost beyond belief. Yet South Carolina's largest newspaper, the State, only found room for a tiny filler item giving trial testimony from the instructor in charge of the pool. He "heard screams but thought everything was normal."

To their ultimate discredit, WIS-TV declined to reveal the gruesome facts on their regular, televised newscasts, choosing instead to air an interview - conducted by the militarily well-connected Judi Gatson - that attempted to discuss this sordid affair in terms of a lapse in safety procedures. The interview - which omitted any reference to Jason's screams, etc. - was absolutely appalling. Are we really expected to believe that Marine swim instructors need underwater cameras to determine if a screaming recruit needs help?

Such barbarism perpetrated by a gang of civilian thugs would have been dutifully detailed and held up for public scrutiny. When investigators find - among other things - that Marine swim instructors need "guidance regarding first-aid for drowning victims," taxpayers have a right to know. Regarding media efforts to keep things quiet, I guess you could say this is one of those cases where a deafening silence spoke volumes.

But then again, Jason was just a poor kid. Had dreams of going to art school and enlisted hoping to help his parents with the expenses. Why should anyone in this good Christian country care anything at all about someone like Jason Tharp?

I'm sick and tired of America's damnable lies and deceit. If it isn't a full-fledged war based on false claims regarding weapons of mass destruction, it's one of our own - and his family - being treated worse than a dog, and a media-manipulated public too downright cowardly to say anything about it. Want national outrage? Burn a flag. Hurl a nonsensical remark at a basketball team, or give a celebrity a break on a misdemeanor rap.

The Tharp case makes a mockery of a free press and an informed electorate. The entire affair - including such niceties as America's "economic" draft - is a national disgrace so profound it should make anyone with normal sensibilities ashamed to be an American.

God bless the Tharps. When their son's case received its final coat of whitewash, Jason's mother tearfully told the military judge, "I hope you see Jason every time you turn around, and hear him screaming."

After I found out what happened to Jason, I sobbed. And this is one case that still makes me cry.

Only one media outlet gave a complete account of Jason's death:
http://wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=3529920&ClientType=Printable

I gave WIS-TV, the Associated Press, and the State newspaper an opportunity to reply to this post, but they declined.

Update 2/8/2015 - An ex-Marine has written an article, "Dying to Serve Your Country," which details how murderous the Marine Corps' "swim training" actually is. Especially interesting is Tim King's inability to find horrifying details anywhere on the Internet. As far as I can tell, any mainstream media references on the Internet to the investigative report's disclosure that the "swim instructor" shoved Jason Tharp's head deeper into the water as he struggled have now been removed, along with references to Jason coughing, gagging, or vomiting. America can stand most anything except the truth.

Update 9/10/2016 - Facts re this year's "suicide" of a Marine recruit who happened to be a Muslim confirms that recruits may indeed be singled out for exceptionally vicious treatment if not death. In this 2006 article - directly relevant to Raheel Siddiqui's "suicide" - retired Marine Sgt. Martin Smith exposes boot camp's racist, brainwashing environment:"Our hatred of the Arab 'other' was crafted from the very beginning of our training through fear and hate..." The article, aptly titled "Learning to be a Killer," is a powerful indictment of the society we live in. As Tim King states (see article 2/8/2015 update) "...Joining the Marines can be a death sentence well before combat."

Update 9/15/2016 - Siddiqui's family (see 9/10/2016 update) is disputing the Marine Corps' claim that their son committed suicide. We need an independent investigation into this matter, especially since the Marine Corps was caught lying about the circumstances surrounding the death of Jason Tharp, initially claiming Jason entered the water voluntarily.

Update 10/4/2016 - The Marine Corps has an incredibly scandalous history, but notice the Washington Post's article makes no mention of the Tharp case. Can anyone imagine why?

Update 11/7/2017 - I've published a post, "Siddiqui scandal: Amerika's military is a national disgrace"

Update 6/3/2019 - Looks like the atrocious environment in Amerika's thug goon military is coming home to roost. The U. S. (Unlimited Stupidity) Army was stupid enough to publish a tweet asking "How has serving impacted you?" Most of the thousands of responses were heartbreaking as "people used the opportunity that the Army had inadvertently given them to describe how they or their loved one had been chewed up and spit out by a war machine that never cared about them." Dr. Paul Craig Roberts sums it up well in the title to his reference to the article: "The Cost of Serving the Elite Who Rule the Dumbshit Americans." I loved Dr. Roberts' e-mail alert to this article. He wrote, "Go wave your flag, you dumbshit American."

U.S. imperialism and economic chaos

Obomba Afghanistan, pop bang ka-blam
'Tis the tear-jerkin' story of ol' Uncle Scam
A world-class BULLY
A MEDDLER
A THUG
Done in by derivatives (!)
Now not so smug

Like Tharp, Tillman case is troubling

The State newspaper refused to publish the comments I submitted regarding the death of Pat Tillman.

First it was Jason Tharp, the teenager who wanted out of the military and then drowned during "training." Forced to tread water, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomitted before bobbing to the surface unresponsive. Facts came to light only because NBC affiliate WIS-TV happened to catch an instructor assaulting Jason 24 hours before the drowning occured.

Next it was former NFL superstar Pat Tillman. He spoke out against the Iraq war and then got killed by "friendly fire." Mainstream media has a tendency not to mention Pat's opposition to the war. Instead, they simply refer to Pat's "notoriety." Come to think of it, I guess you could say notoriety is something Pat Tillman had in common with Jason Tharp.

Witnessed to have yelled out his identity, evidence suggests that Tillman was shot at close range according to investigators who claim their findings were ignored. They say he was shot from about ten yards instead of 90 as claimed by the Army. The military has given outrageously false accounts of how Tillman died, including at least one falsified document.

Appearing last Sunday on 60 Minutes, Tillman's mother emphasized that the public had been victimized by false information. At least the Tillmans - with resources sharply contrasting those of the Tharps - are managing to get the facts in front of the public, complete with a congressional inquiry.

Notoriety is beginning to look like a health issue...

If anything ever warranted a congressional inquiry, it was the case of Marine recruit Jason Tharp. Only one media outlet revealed the horrifying details of how Jason died:
http://wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=3529920&ClientType=Printable

Toys for Tots? How about "Guns for Gangs"?

News has it (don't miss the video) that Marines from Parris Island have been coming to South Carolina's capitol city offering assistance to local gang members. You know. Teach 'em tactical manuevers. That sort of thing. In fact, the relationship between the military and gangs has gotten so cozy that military police are warning cities all across America to be on the lookout. Not to be an alarmist, but I think this says something about our society.

Come Christmastime, maybe the Marines should start a new program to go along with Toys for Tots. They could call it "Guns for Gangs." Might not have quite as good a recruiting angle as Toys for Tots, but it would be a bit more honest. Tots, incidentally, didn't do too well at the hands of Marines in Iraq, most notably, perhaps, as the gang massacred innocent men, women, and children at Haditha.

Writing as a four-year Army veteran, Vietnam Era, I'm reminded of the kinda folks you can get thrown in with when you sign up for the military. Like the night - 'round 2 a.m. actually - when someone came in drunk, drugged, both, or whatever, picked a fight, and slashed a guy's face - in the dark - multiple times with one of those little razor-sharp knives ('bout the size of fingernail clippers) that fit on key chains.

Ah, the marvels of Uncle Sam's communal living arrangements. Its another one of those things recruiters somehow forget to mention. I could recount more "war stories," but if you haven't gotten the picture by now, it probably wouldn't do any good.

This thing about gangs in the military also reminds me of the gang-style savagery dished out to Marine recruit Jason Tharp, the teenager who wanted out of the military and then drowned during "training." Forced to tread water, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomitted before bobbing to the surface unresponsive.

Come to think of it, havin' military recruiters on school grounds may not be such a good idea after all.

Only one media outlet dared to publish the horrifying details of Jason's death:
http://wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=3529920&ClientType=Printable

Update 12/14/2014 - A smattering of more recent articles - such as this one - suggest that military personnel supplying guns to gangs is continuing. As word spreads about the kind of environment folks are exposed to in the military, no wonder there's a renewed interest in reviving the draft. It takes lots of fresh cannon fodder to fight ol' Sammy's never-ending, imperialistic, undeclared wars.

Update 5/4/2015 - Military personnel assisting gangs is continuing, evidenced by last month's story about Army reservists plotting to sell guns, ammo, and body armor to Mexican drug cartels. Nuthin' like the desire to lend a helping hand... 

Now I get it. Tharp was the victim of an enhanced training technique.

The CIA has given us to understand that forced simulation of drowning - along with a number of other practices - isn't torture. Its "waterboarding." Or better yet, its an "enhanced interrogation technique." I'm glad to know that.

Perhaps this also sheds some light on what happened to Jason Tharp, the teenager who wanted out of the military, then drowned during "training." Forced to tread water, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomitted before bobbing to the surface unresponsive.

Initially, I thought what happened to Jason was a study in sadism. Gang-style savagery, to be exact. Especially that part about the instructor shoving Jason's head deeper into the water. I'll bet some folks even thought it was cold-blooded murder. But after all this talk about enhanced interrogation techniques, I guess Jason was simply the victim of an enhanced training technique. Maybe this explains why the Associated Press and other mainstream media merely summarized Jason's death as "preventable," without bothering to mention all those horrifying details revealed in the investigative report.

America seems rather taken with the semantics - or antics - of euphemistical skullduggery. And I've given a lot of thought lately to George Orwell's 1984, especially the convoluted terminology known as "Newspeak." Frankly, that's been a bit unnerving. 'Cause the next thing you know, I'll be gettin' the sweet land of liberty confused with some kind of Orwellian nightmare...

Only one media outlet revealed the horrifying details contained in the investigative report:
http://wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=3529920&ClientType=Printable