Protesters challenged the credibility of veterans opposed to the Iraq war who gave testimony last week about human rights violations they allegedly witnessed in Iraq. The anti-war soldiers were speaking at the Veterans Against the Iraq War Winter Soldier Conference, held at the National Labor College in Washington, D.C., an event heavily guarded by police and security personnel.

The protesters, who numbered about 30 and were assembled outside the college, cited the case of a high-profile former member of the Veterans Against the Iraq War (VAIW): Jesse Macbeth.

Macbeth had toured the country in 2006 claiming to have witnessed horrific war crimes as he served in Iraq as an “Army Special Forces Ranger.” In May 2006, the conservative blog Just Citizens exposed the fact that Macbeth’s military service consisted of 44 days in the U.S. before he was dismissed from boot camp. He never served in Iraq.

Despite the Macbeth scandal, VAIW officials told Cybercast News Service they were unwilling to allow independent verification of the identities of the veterans who spoke at their conference last week. The same officials said they are “100 percent certain” of the testimony of the soldiers who spoke.

Citing the Macbeth case, protester Kenneth Keith, a Vietnam war veteran and member of the pro-military organization Eagles Up, told Cybercast News Service he suspected a number of the VAIW panelists were not veterans of the Iraq War.

“All we are asking for in there is honesty,” said Keith. “We don’t want a bunch of Jesse Macbeths down here. We are asking for these people to sign a Service Form 180(SF180) or a Department of Defense 214(DD14) which makes their military records public documents, proving they are who they say they are. We don’t care if they are for the war or against the war. We just want honesty.” ……

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