Up-date: 10-7-13

Media Matters Tries to Torpedo Reporter’s Matthew Shepard Book ~ When you stray from the leftist line, expect to be vilified.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

10-4-13

It’s been fifteen years, but the real story about the horrible murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming is finally “out.” Unfortunately the mainstream media outlets couldn’t care less, so not many Americans will ever learn the truth.
 
Shepard’s 1988 murder was exploited to drive sympathy for the LGBT cause; Matthew was held up as the tragic victim of a homophobic hate crime. But according to a new release “The Book of Matt,” (written by Stephen Jimenez, himself a homosexual) the murder was tied to drugs – not “gay hate.” Brent Bozell at Media Research Center discusses the book – and how the msm is totally ignoring it – in his recent article: The Gay Passion Play Unravels? ~

Jimenez argues after years of research and interviews that Shepard and his killers Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were deeply involved in drugs. Not only that, they may not be straight men. McKinney presented himself as a “straight hustler” turning tricks for money or drugs, but others say he’s bisexual. A former lover of Shepard’s claims Shepard and McKinney had sex while doing drugs in the back of a limo. As Hicklin recounted, “A manager of a gay bar in Denver recalls seeing photos of McKinney and Henderson in the papers and recognizing them as patrons of his bar. He recounts his shock at realizing “these guys who killed that kid came from inside our own community.’”

 
Will the real facts of the case ever make it out of Jimenez’ book? Not likely. Or at least not enough to reach the millions who already have the false scenario firmly embedded in their minds.
 
And the media has no intention of clearing things up. They’ve pretty much ignored “The Book of Matt,” which comes as no surprise, when you learn that (t)he Shepard gay hate crime victim story was exposed as false … almost ten years ago, and the leftists said nothing then ~

ABC’s “20/20″ took apart the legend in 2004. Elizabeth Vargas told Bill O’Reilly that the prosecutor in the Shepard case never believed it was a hate crime. Instead, it was about drugs: “Aaron McKinney, according to Aaron McKinney himself and to several other witnesses, was coming down from a five-day methamphetamine binge. He freely admits he not only used methamphetamine but dealt them, sold them. Five days up with no sleep, strung out on drugs, desperate to buy more, desperate to rob somebody to get money to buy more drugs.”

 
You see, it’s only news if it fits the agenda.
 
The leftist media has employed the same methodology for years (it’s a strategy that’s particularly successful with low-information voters):
 
• Spin lie(s)
• Disperse false narrative; edit selectively
• Advance agenda
• Achieve objective
• Proceed to next item on Progressive “wish list”
• If the truth ever comes out – ignore it
 
This is exactly how they handled the Matthew Shepard story. And the fact that “The Laramie Project,” a play based on the false motivation behind the tragedy, is still being regularly produced around the country, is proof that the truth wont’ be coming out any time soon.
 
One of the characters in the drama, a Baptist minister, sees fit to sermonize ~

“(T)here are people trying to distance themselves from this crime. And we need to own this crime. Everyone needs to own it.”

 
“Own it?” I don’t know about you but I don’t own it. I won’t own it. I’m not a druggie, nor am I gay. I don’t hate or harm those who are either of those things.
I do pray for their eternal souls. Which I believe is more than we can say for the mainstream media with their deceitful ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Related:
Michael Voris (Church Militant TV) interviewed Stephen Jimenez on his weekly radio show this past Wednesday – video HERE.

Up-date: Nov. 4th, 2013 ~

Further developments in the ongoing Camp Bastion investigation: 10 new details about the deadly attack on Camp Bastion (Military Times); previous fence breaches, unoccupied guard towers, limited security for Harriers (jets worth $200 million destroyed in the attack), etc..

The Atwell and Raible families deserve to learn the truth about this tragedy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Up-date: Sept. 30th, 2013 ~

First, I have to correct an error in my original post regarding the security forces at Camp Bastion at the time of the attack last September. I misread Michelle Malkin’s article and thought that Tonga was a local town or area of Afghanistan. Who knew that it was an island (poplulation 100,000) in the middle of the Pacific? And futher, who realized that they actually had a military presence? Since our feckless Commander-in-Chief has drastically reduced our troop numbers in Afghanistan we were forced to outsource security on the base to the vaunted Tongan Defence Force (notorious at the base for sleeping on the job). So while they weren’t locals – and potential jihadists – they weren’t anywhere close to being U.S. Marines.
 
Second, there’s been some resolution in the matter. As the Washington Post reported this evening: Two Marine generals (have been) fired for security lapses in Afghanistan ~

British commanders had assigned the task of manning the towers to troops from Tonga, which has sent 55 soldiers to Afghanistan.
 
On the night of the attack, the Tongans left unmanned the nearest watchtower to the point of the Taliban breach, according to an investigation by the U.S. Central Command.
 
Other aspects of the U.S.-British security plan were “sub-optimal,” the investigation found, with no single officer in charge of security for both Bastion and Leatherneck. The security arrangement created command-and-control relationships “contrary to the war-fighting principles of simplicity,” Amos wrote in a memo accepting the investigation.
 
Troop reductions also affected security measures. When Gurganus took command in 2011, about 17,000 U.S. troops were in his area of operations. By the time of the attack, in September 2012, the American contingent had dropped to 7,400 because of troop-withdrawal requirements imposed by President Obama.
 
In December 2011, 325 Marines were assigned to patrol the area around Bastion and Leatherneck. In the month before the attack, that number was cut to about 110.
 
Gurganus did seek permission in the summer of 2012 to add 160 troops to protect Bastion and Leatherneck, but his superiors in Kabul rejected the request because the military had reached a limit on forces set by the White House[…]
 
Gurganus and Sturdevant will be allowed to retire, but Amos said it will be up to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to determine their final rank.

In the end, someone had to take the fall for Obama and the poltroons in the Pentagon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Original post: June 23, 2013
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On September 14th, 2012 Camp Bastion, a British-run NATO compound in Afghanistan, was attacked by the Taliban, resulting in the deaths of two Marines and the worst lost of aircraft since Vietnam. Michelle Malkin deserves huge kudos for staying on top of the story as details have emerged over the last several months ~

… the Taliban waged an intricately coordinated, brutal attack on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan last fall — three days after the deadly siege on our consulate in Libya and after months of prior security incidents and warnings. Fifteen jihadists disguised in stolen American combat fatigues penetrated the complex. They used rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and other weapons to wipe out nearly an entire squadron of Marine Harrier jets worth an estimated $200 million.
 
Along with the most devastating loss of U.S. airpower since Vietnam, two heroic U.S. Marines — Lt. Col. Christopher Raible and Sgt. Bradley Atwell — were killed in the battle, and nearly a dozen others were injured.

Military officials refused to release details of the fateful budget and strategy decisions that led to the attack. But Deborah Hatheway, aunt of Sgt. Atwell and the family’s spokesperson, and other Camp Bastion families learned on their own that their loved ones were left vulnerable to attack by military leaders who outsourced watchtower security on the base to soldiers from Tonga.

 
Get that? In hostile territory we outsource security to the locals!

(Correction: “Tonga” isn’t “local.” See 9-30-13 update above)

“The attack only occurred because of an egregious failure in basic infantry practices. … It is painfully obvious that this attack would not have been successful, or likely even attempted, if not for multiple security failures at Leatherneck/Bastion.”

~ Nick Francona, former Marine Corps Ground Intelligence Officer ~

 
Apparently U.S. Central Command is investigating, especially the action or inaction of Maj. Gen. Charles “Mark” Gurganus who was ultimately responsible for base security at the time of the attack. And, as Malkin reports ~

…there is now movement on Capitol Hill to help Camp Bastion families whose information requests have been stymied. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., has written Marine/CENTCOM leadership on behalf of the victims’ families. (Sgt. Atwell and his family are from Indiana.) Rokita told me in a statement this week: “This is about transparency and accountability. I want to make sure that Sgt. Atwell’s family, Lt. Col. Raible’s family and the American people get the full truth about the Camp Bastion attack.”

 
At the time it occurred, news of this story was lost in the Benghazi smoke & mirrors show. Just one more tragic sideshow in the Obama Cirque du Destruction. But the families – and Americans who still give a damn – want answers.