SEC | VeriSEAL | News: Fake SEAL accuses soldiers of torture

    From:    fgford@hotmail.com (frank gregory ford)
    To:    VeriSEAL
    Subject:    liable (sic) and slander
    Date sent:    Thu, 30 Dec 2004 16:47:36 -0500

veriseal,

        have sent both SEAL team and authentiseal site information on a
        captain artiga,and investigation of abuse and torture of iraqis by
        the group that brought the world ABU ghraib.you should've have
        done your home work..wrong name and other information was
        intentionally sent to you and you made faulty assumptions without
        once contacting me.legal counsel will be contacting your
        organisation to establish your legal counsel.

             christmas present: photos and statements of abused and
             tortured iraqis are being collated presently.in addition,no
             investigation was done BY C.I.D or any other organisation. as
             stated by these very same groups,but not to worry three
             federal agencies are now investigating thoroughly,in
             addition: all three medical reviewers have stated that they
             knew "medevac" was a sham to cover-up reported abuse..have
             your legal counsel ready.

                 f.g. ford n.d.

[VIEW ACTUAL LETTER]

Kids, let this be a lesson to you: Substance abuse only exacerbates stupidity.

We will be publishing more of Ford's correspondence to us, so check back here the next time you need to laugh at a prime poser.

The best is yet to come...

Meanwhile, enjoy the following articles by one of the liberal dupes with a political agenda who rushed to this fraud's defense armed with bandoliers of BS. Then read what Larry Johnson had to say about it.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

November 26, 2005 -- "Swift boating" Iraq Whistleblowers. The same gaggle of GOP right-wing fake, phony, and fraudulent "veterans" who savaged John Kerry, John McCain, Special Forces Lt. Col. Dan Marvin, 60 Minutes and others are now taking on Iraqi War veterans who have blown the whistle on U.S. torture of prisoners in Iraq. The latest victim of these self-appointed vigilantes is Sgt. Frank G. Ford, the 32-year veteran of military counter-intelligence and presidential security detail operations who was unceremoniously removed from Iraq strapped to a gurney after he cited several cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq. His contention is supported by fellow 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion veteran Dave DeBatto.

Enter a group called VeriSeal, a murky McLean, Virginia-based organization tied to an equally murky contractor advertising counter-terrorism/protection, intelligence, investigations, and security services.

VeriSeal claims that Ford was not entitled to wear a SEAL insignia even though Ford said he was a Navy corpsman assigned to a discontinued SEAL training program in the 1980s. Navy corpsmen are similarly assigned to Marine Corps combat units. Nevertheless, VeriSeal's accusations were quickly picked up, a la the 60 Minutes Texas Air National Guard "scanned" original documents story and the Swift Boat vets claims, by right wing web sites like FreeRepublic.com, which proceeded to trash Ford in the same manner they attacked Dan Rather and John Kerry.

VeriSeal's web site has a list of individuals it claims have wrongfully cited or have had referenced their US Navy SEAL veterans' status. Cleverly, the site mixes actual frauds with those whose whistleblower activities earn them the wrath of the organization, which apparently claims to have some sort of official access to Department of Defense military records (Naval Special Warfare Command and Naval Special Warfare Archives), access that enables it to question information contained in official discharge papers (DD-214s). The Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California, however, does not endorse the activities of operations like VeriSeal.

The site also attacks Navy reserve Captain O.C. Smith, someone who never claimed to be a Navy SEAL but was a reserve Navy pathologist whose civilian job as Shelby County Medical Examiner put him front and center in two very suspicious deaths: the so-called "suicide" of top Harvard virologist Dr. Don C. Wiley and the murder of Tennessee driver's license examiner Katherine Smith. Dr. Smith has been the victim of a coordinated discrediting campaign because of his intimate knowledge about both suspicious deaths -- murders likely connected to criminal conspiracies involving the anthrax attacks and 911, respectively. VeriSeal also attacks former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's fellow Iraq War skeptic. The web site claims that Armitage "lied" about his own SEAL background, a contention that Armitage denies. A Wall Street Journal article features retired Navy Commander Paul Galanti runs a site similar to VeriSeal. Galanti was a leader of the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans" who questioned John Kerry's Vietnam service and the chair of John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign in Virginia.

A perusal of the principals of the VeriSeal web site and its associated firm points to a group made up of war book authors and TV and movie script writers who are selling their various "services" to the Federal government. VeriSeal is said to be a "service" of Security Enterprise Consultants as a "no cost public service." VeriSeal's principals are listed as Charles Pfarrer, author of "Warrior Soul; The Memoir of a Navy SEAL" and Hollywood screenwriter identified with "The Jackal," (Bruce Willis, Richard Gere) "Navy SEAL," (Charlie Sheen, Bill Paxton) and "Darkman;" Marvel comic book hero movie starring Liam Neeson) and Steve Waterman, author of "Just a Sailor: A Navy Diver's Story of Photography, Salvage, and Combat." VeriSeal is run by retired Senior Chief Kent Dillingham who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

VeriSeal's corporate "sponsor," Security Enterprise Consultants, claims it is a "'post-service only' organization comprised exclusively of veteran government and military personnel with ten or more years of operational experience." It lists a partner called Special Ops Associates, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, FL that provides special security services in Afghanistan. The Fort Lauderdale firm also runs www.maritimesecurity.org.

Although its VeriSeal crew is heavily laden with book authors and TV and movie script writers, Security Enterprise Consultants maintains a "No Media" policy applying to "printed press, television, and motion picture projects." Its web site also has a "special access" required page. One of its advertised offerings is "repatriation services."

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

June 23, 2006 -- The "swift boating" of Army counterintelligence personnel who blew the whistle on Rumsfeld's/Carlyle's Iraqi WMDs and prisoner torture in Iraq. In 2003, Frank Greg Ford, a 32-year veteran of military and counter-intelligence assignments, served in Samara with the 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion of the California National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Samara is the ancient capital of Mesopotamia, Ford and Dave DeBatto. a former US Army Counterintelligence Special Agent who was assigned in 2003 to Iraq, took part in thousands of interrogations in Iraq. Ford revealed details of U.S. torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a tactic that resulted in an aggravation of the Iraqi insurgency. DeBatto found evidence of an even greater crime, the provision of deadly nerve agents to Saddam Hussein by Ronald Reagan, his envoy Donald Rumsfeld, and George H. W. Bush.

DeBatto and Ford also stumbled across evidence that the only WMDs, nerve agents that had deteriorated over the years, had been supplied to Iraq by the Reagan and Bush I administrations for their war against Iran. Reagan's Special Envoy to Saddam Hussein, Donald Rumsfeld, worked out the deal to supply the WMDs to Iraq. It is these components, known to various UN weapons inspection teams and counter-intelligence teams like those of DeBatto and Ford, that are the subject of Sen. Rick Santorum's and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra's proclamation, ballyhooed by Sean Hannity, that the weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in Iraq. These weapons are made in America, supplied by Carlyle, and were known to Rumsfeld as well as senior members of the Bush I and II administrations, including Dick Cheney.

In December 2004, a right-wing organization based in McLean, Virginia, "Veriseal.org," which is tied to other "swift boating" type organizations went on the attack against Ford and DeBatto. They claim that Ford, a former Navy corpsman, never served with the Navy SEALS and had manufactured his record. The site also castigated DeBatto for writing a fictional book on Army counter-intelligence. The swift boating of veterans by a group of mysteriously-funded cranks operating from a P.O. Box near CIA headquarters in Langley is part of a general policy by the right-wing to debase any veteran who questions the illegal war in Iraq and the other outrages of the neo-cons.

The following is an excerpt of the hit piece on Ford found on the VeriSeal site:

"Frank 'Greg' Ford claims to have witnessed members of his National Guard battalion torturing Iraqi prisoners while his unit was stationed in Samarra in 2003, according to David DeBatto, a former National Guard Tactical HUMINT Team (THT) member and author of a story titled 'Whitewashing Torture' published on a far left web site in early December." The "far left" web site is Salon.com.

"DeBatto says that Ford reported the alleged [torture] abuse to his commanding officer and, hours later, was strapped to a gurney and flown out of Iraq for psychiatric evaluation. According to Army sources contacted by VeriSEAL, an informal investigation pursuant to Rules for Courts-Martial was conducted in response to Ford's allegations and the allegations were determined to be unfounded. Ford was medevaced from Iraq only after exhibiting what was described as delusional behavior." VeriSeal followed up on its defamatory accusations by stating, "David DeBatto acknowledges that while in Iraq he personally did not witness any incidents similar to those reported by Ford. He maintains 'every army psychiatrist diagnosed Sergeant Ford as completely normal with absolutely no psychological or mental health issues whatsoever." The site then claims that "DeBatto is currently writing a work of fiction based on Army counter-intelligence which is said due to be published in 2005.'"

The real work of fiction is VeriSeal, which links to such right-wing puffery sites as World Net Daily. WMR has obtained photos of Greg Ford on duty as a Navy Corpsman with his Navy SEAL unit.

(Misrepresented photos omitted)

"Wayne Madsen should avoid engaging in the same Swift Boat tactics he accuses the crazy right of using against whistle blowers. VeriSEAL's one mission in life is blowing the whistle on wannbees and frauds--i.e., guys who claim to have been Navy SEALs. Fact is one's political orientation doesn't mean shit with the VeriSEAL crowd. The key is whether or not you correctly and accurately describe your experience (or lack thereof) with the SEAL community. Don't pretend to be something you ain't. Wayne needs to learn this lesson."