SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

To: Ed Bowie - Executive Director (the one with no ethics policy - "no law against lying")
Acadiana Open Channel (AOC) http://www.aocinc.org/ContactUs/index.html
& Hesham Tillawi - www.currentissues.tv

Hey HeshamTellawi, one of your fake veterans on your taxpayer/corporate funded terrorist program < www.currentissues.tv > is going to burn. You know the one, wannabe Army Ranger"Jesse McBeth." The one on video you aired all Memorial Day weekend over and over with his lies of killing women and children in Iraq. You knew it was fake when you aired it too. What a fine upstanding citizens y'all are. I guess Lafayette and AOC is real proud. What about that other Veteran on your program, you know the one who claimed that Neutron bombs were used in Iraq? Is he for real?
Jesse McBeth's real Military record (DD-214) can be found here: http://www.want2be.info/
Jesse MacBeth now was caught trying to defraud the VA, which carries Federal charges and jail time. Excellent. More to go yet.

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Source: http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=3979

Why outing Jesse Macbeth was important
Posted by: McQ on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

This isn't so much about Jesse Macbeth as it is about the importance of outing people like Jesse Macbeth.

We just observed Memorial Day, where we say thanks to those who've sacrified their lives in military service to their country. And we say thank you on Veteran's Day, to those living veterans who've served their country. Another thing we do as thanks for their service is provide benefits for service connected illnesses and disability (along with other promised benefits). As you can imagine, there aren't unlimited funds for these benefits so the care is prioritized and given to those in the most need. Unfortunately, it is also a target of fraud.

Jesse Macbeth is one of those fake veterans who allegedly tried to defraud the VA system. His story is told by Steve Oatney, State Service Director for AMVETS since Nov. 2005 in the Tacoma area. Steve relates the following in an email:
On Sept 19 2005 Mr. Macbeth filed a claim for compensation in our office. I hate to say it but he successfully passed that bogus DD214 off to an experienced NSO. (I took his place in November).

Fast forward to February. I received a call from a VA employee at the American Lake hospital. He had asked me to "verify" the 214. Now this is the first time I had any knowledge of Mr. MacBeth. I pulled his hard file out and reviewed it. As soon as I saw the DD214 (the fake one) I informed the VA employee that Mr. Macbeth had a fraudulent 214. I proceeded to contact our National Service officer in Seattle, Sharon V***l, and Senior Investigator M**** S****s of the VAOIG (Veterans Administration Inspector General).

Mr. MacBeth visited my office on February 27. Law enforcement personnel were notified but at the time they were not really interested in picking him up.

He once more visited my office on the 9th of March with his "whine" fest. At that time I told him the "gig was up" and he should leave my office and never come back. I also sent a fax to agent S****s with MacBeths current info on it.

The whole time I never realized this guy was making videos, belonging to IVATW, Veterans for peace or anybody else.

Well now Pierce County WA has a Felony Assault warrant out for him as of 23 May. He beat up a girl. Now he has left town, believed to be in San Francisco with the group "Swords to Plowshares"!!!

And yes, the VA will soon have a Federal Warrant on him and yep, they will prosecute him for fraud.
That last sentence is directly attributable to blogs raising Macbeth's visibility.

Swords to Plowshares, mentioned in the email, is a veterans organization who's stated mission is as follows:
Our mission is to heal the wounds, to restore dignity, hope and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to significantly reduce homelessness and poverty among veterans.
A perfect target for a fake vet. To those involved with Swords to Plowshares - be aware.

The bottom line: the exposure of Macbeth as a fraud by blogs has also caused records to be checked and appropriate legal proceedings to be initiated. It also serves to warn veterans organizations, such as Swords to Plowshares, of potential fraud which may be headed their way. The visibility this case gathered is remarkable. But Macbeth is only the tip of the iceberg concerning veteran's fraud, and not a very sophisticated example. I'll be covering this in some detail later, but if this is a concern to you, there is a bill making the rounds for cosponsors which you may be interested in supporting. In the House:
HR 3352, The Stolen Valor Act, was introduced by Colorado Congressman John T. Salazar on July 19, 2005. The Senate version (S 1998), Sponsored by North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, was introduced jointly by the Senator and Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss on November 10, 2005. The intent of the legislation is NOT to impede the sale of military awards, as erroneously reported in the early press, but simply to close loopholes in Title 18 (U.S.C.) that have allowed individuals who have purchased medals (rather than legitimately earned them) to fraudulently claim to be recipients of some of our military's highest honors. Both bills have been referred to their respective Judiciary Committees.
The Senate version is S 1998. There are currently 101 sponsors in the House and 22 in the Senate. You can read more about the effort and the reason for the effort here. It is legislation I can actually support without feeling guilty as a libertarian.

The whole point of the legislation is to make it harder and more costly for these frauds to besmirch the honor and valor of real recipients of our nations highest military awards. That in turn will cut down the number of them attempting to defraud the VA system with false claims and documentation. And in both rolls, blogs can play a valuable role.