The Shield of Achilles: Rieckhoff's New Neighbors

Evening in Khadra, Baghdad, Sep 2006

Here is an interesting development on the article that recently appeared in The Nation, called "The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness", that claimed to spotlight regular atrocities by US forces in Iraq. I wrote about this article previously, and why I didn't feel it was very reliable. You might want to look there before you read further. Some other good info here.

Someone else didn't like The Nation's article either. Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America) is complaining his people were misrepresented in the article. This was actually kind of surprising; You would think that The Nation, the authors of the article (Hedges & Al-Arian), and Rieckhoff would be a good fit together since they are all strongly anti-Iraq war.

While IAVA doesn't take an official stand on the war, Paul Rieckhoff has made himself quite a bit of media notoriety by his criticism of it and the Bush administration in general. He has appeared on several news programs as well as "The Colbert Report" to plug his book Chasing Ghosts. He is also a regular columnist at the Huffington Post. Al Franken says:

Anyone who would question Paul Rieckhoff's unquestioned authority on the war and its cost is dangerously dangerous.

Well, I guess I'm "dangerously dangerous", since I question his authority on the war. I don't question his book, because I haven't read it (yet). I'll check it out when I can read a free copy. Right now, I don't support Rieckhoff or the IAVA, so I don't want to send any money their way.

In any case, Paul Rieckhoff was unhappy. He told the Mudville Gazette:

I wanted to contact you ASAP to let you know that we agree with you about The Nation piece 100%. It was a total hit job. We do not approve of or support this piece of trash in any way. We responded immediately here.

Of course the Nation buried our letter, and gave the authors a chance to respond before it was posted--a courtesy they didn't give us.

In the letter, he says, among other things:

The Nation violated the trust of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and many of the service members interviewed. Reporters told our members that the focus of this piece was their experience in Iraq generally, not civilian casualties specifically. Many of the veterans involved spent hours talking to Ms. Al-Arian and shared deeply personal recollections on a variety of subjects, only to have their experiences misrepresented and/or isolated. The most graphic recollections were removed from context and used to bolster a preconceived conclusion by the authors about the patterns and frequency of civilian deaths. Critical facts were obscured or omitted entirely. This entire piece is a glaring example of the type of low-quality journalism that has been all too common in the coverage of the war in Iraq since it began.

It's strange that I find myself agreeing with him here, because that's the same criticism I've had of the media since the war began. If I had to guess, I would bet that Hedges and Al-Arian just assumed that the IAVA vets were "on their side", so they could write the piece any way they wanted. Other subjects in the article vented their frustrations as well.

How could Rieckhoff have been so naive? If he did even a cursory check he would have known the elements he was dealing with. On The Nation's web site reads a banner (which floats on and off around the site):

"WE'RE LIKE FOX NEWS. ONLY SMART. AND NOT CRAZY. AND WE DON'T LIE."

The authors of "The Other War" have issues as well. Chris Hedges has been a vocal critic not just of the war, but of Christians everywhere, of whom he seems to have a fanatical hatred. He wrote a book called "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America" as well as numerous articles claiming that Christians are an "imminent threat" to American Democracy.

Well, I don't know about you, but I am terrified of fellow Catholics walking into my Church with a suicide vest on... After all, just this week we have seen Southern Baptists sniping at police, Methodists attempting to hijack airplanes, and Presbyterians trying to obtain enough fuel to build a nuclear weapon.

Oh wait - my mistake; those were Muslims, not Christians I was thinking of. Like Hedges, I seem to get the two confused. In fact, he's so confused, he decided to speak up for Islam in a debate against atheist Chris Hitchens and (by his own admission) was totally trounced.

Last year, he wrote an article called:"Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse"

War with Iran—a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East—is probable by the end of the Bush administration. It could begin in as little as three weeks. This administration, claiming to be anointed by a Christian God to reshape the world, and especially the Middle East, defined three states at the start of its reign as “the Axis of Evil.”

Someone, please tell me, where did Bush ever claim he was anointed by God?

The other author, Laila Al-Arian, is the daughter of convicted terrorist supporter Sami Al-Arian, and writes occasionally on Muslim or Palestinian issues. Together, Hedges and Al-Arian are currently writing a book entitled: "Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians"

What has happened here is that Paul Rieckhoff has chosen his political side of the fence, but seems to be very unhappy about the neighbors he's finding over there.

Well, Paul, if you change your mind, you can always move back to this side. We'll welcome you back with open arms.