The Cincinnati Beacon - Matt Maupin: Alternative Media Round-Up

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Matt Maupin: Alternative Media Round-Up

Photo courtesy of here.

So what’s the real deal with Matt Maupin? What might those who only read local media accounts have missed these past four years? Turns out there is a world of controversy surrounding the Maupin case—going much beyond the story of a soldier allegedly missing for several years. His story touches on a variety of topics, from the video of his death in 2004 which was deemed “inconclusive,” to the official designation of him as “captured” and not a “POW”—definitions that some critics claim weaken government policy to support those who are taken alive across enemy lines.

According to this article from the U.S. Veteran Dispatch, actions taken by both John Kerry and John McCain during the early 90’s stripped “Prisoner of War” protection from captured soldiers, like Matt Maupin:

Pentagon officials claim Pfc. Maupin “is not a traditional prisoner of war.” They say the official war ended more than a year ago when Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime was broken and scattered.

“The young man is a hostage, a person who has been kidnaped,’’ said Lawrence J. Korb, a defense policy analyst who was assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1985. International rules of how prisoners of war are to be treated or exchanged do not apply in this case, said Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.

The phrase Prisoner of War says two things: First, it says prisoner _ living breathing human being. Second, it says held by the enemy. Prisoner of War is a phrase that arouses the American conscience. America does not leave its POWs behind.

Pentagon pencil pushers say Pfc. Maupin’s correct designation is Missing/Captured. This designation is intentionally ambiguous. It is an oxymoron. Is the person missing or captured?

With this relatively new and nebulous designation, the Pentagon is making sure it will never be accused again of leaving POWs behind after the end of the shooting war. Future generations will look at records that read Missing/Captured, a designation that implies no one knew if the individual was Missing or Captured.

This conflicting designation which has quietly striped United States military personnel of any protection of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War is a direct result of collaboration between Senators John Kerry and John McCain during the 1991-93 Senate Select Committee Hearings on POW/MIA Affairs. Both men played prominent rolls in protecting communist Vietnamese officials from being charged with war crimes committed against U.S. POWs during and after the Vietnam War.

(...)

In April, when the U.S. Veteran Dispatch, a long time POW/MIA advocacy organization, sent a box of bracelets with Pfc. Maupin’s name on them to his family members to wear, the organization was told that the family would wear them only if “POW” was removed.

“Technically, Matt is not classified as a POW,” Maj. Mark Magalski, a Pentagon service officer who is assisting the family, wrote the organization in an e-mail, “his status remains as ‘Captured’. The Maupin family is reluctant to wear the bracelets that say “POW” on them, although it is just a technicality and I am sure that their son has endured similar experiences as former POWs.”

In this November, 2004 article from Military.com, one can really get a sense of how the U.S. kept the Maupin family grasping at straws:

Spc. Maupin, with the 724th Transportation Company, disappeared April 9 after an attack on his fuel convoy. On June 29, hours after U.S. officials turned over sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government, al-Jazeera reported that Maupin had been shot in the head. The station did not broadcast a video it said it had showing the death.

According to an Associated Press story in June, the Arab television network aired a video showing a blindfolded man sitting on the ground and identified as Maupin by a statement issued with the footage. Al-Jazeera said that in the next scene, gunmen shoot the man in the back of the head, in front of a hole dug in the ground.

(...)

Army officials won’t discuss the search for Maupin, who on April 23 was officially classified as captured.

“We don’t want to do anything or say anything … that may hinder any type of investigation or send the wrong messages to anyone who has him,” Harris said.

The lack of communication by Maupin’s hostage-takers might be by design, said Chris Hellman military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington.

“If they know the U.S. policy is to not negotiate at all with hostage-takers, why do they take hostages? To sow fear and uncertainty in their adversary,” Hellman said. “Knowing the status of a person, be it dead or alive, is more reassuring to colleagues than not knowing. If your enemy is capable of disappearing you at their convenience and doing with you want they want, and leaving others guessing, wouldn’t that be unsettling to you?

“You don’t sleep and you spend a lot of time looking over your shoulder,” he said.

And to some degree, hostage-taking in Iraq “has become a business,” said Allen Keiswetter, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, and former deputy assistant deputy secretary at the State Department for Near East Affairs in 2000 and 2001.

“Some people who take hostages contract them out to other organizations for money. They may have sold him for some reward to another organization,” said Keiswetter, who is not familiar with the specifics of Maupin case and was speaking generally.

Updates about their son trickle into the homes of Spc. Maupin’s parents, a dearth of information that now leaves the family to rely on hope and prayers.

“There really isn’t anything new, and there hasn’t been for a while now,” Carolyn Maupin, 57, said. “He is still listed ‘captured, whereabouts unknown’ and all I know is that they are looking. [Army officials] guarantee me they are looking, but to what depth, I don’t know.

“They are looking, I honestly do believe that. I feel that.”

How much looking would the military have done for a soldier apparently captured on film being shot to death in 2004?

According to this site, it appears that Matt Maupin’s father ordered a free DVD about “the murderous reign of Saddam Hussein.” He wanted to show it to his son should he ever return home:

Sir,

My name is Keith Maupin. I am the Dad of the missing soldier in Iraq. Sgt Matt Maupin, captured 9 April 2004. They have him listed as CAPTURED/MIA. Your site said you would mail one to any soldier serving there. Matt is there and I would appreciate it if you would send me a copy of the movie. It will be here when Matt gets home.

Kind of strange, on the one hand—the idea of a father waiting for his captured son to return home so he could show him a propagandistic pro-war DVD.

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cincysuz says:
13 Apr 2008 at 04:02 pm | #

One has to feel overwhelming sadness looking at the sweet face of Matt Maupin and mourn the waste of his life, but not a scintilla more than the others, the forgotten 4,000 that haven’t been awarded progressively higher ranks posthumously, that don’t get a visit from the President or a funeral fit for a king, that aren’t allowed to have photographs taken as they arrive home, in caskets.

If Bush attended the funerals of all the soldiers killed, it would be a couple a day. But why would he bother, those 4,000 can’t be parlayed for political gain. Maupin can.

future99 says:
13 Apr 2008 at 04:09 pm | #

Kind of strange, on the one hand—the idea of a father waiting for his captured son to return home so he could show him a propagandistic pro-war DVD.

He could hve balanced it out perfectly by showing the beacon’s anti-war propaganda

cincysuz says:
13 Apr 2008 at 08:03 pm | #

Future 99 - I’ve seen no anti-war propaganda on the Beacon. Truth yes. Facts yes. Alarming revelations, yes. And sources for the truth are few and far between in a nation that has no media free of government/corporate control. Propaganda, or lies, is what got us into this war. The truth will get us out.

What’s your position Future99? Will you be down at Great American Ballpark partying for war? War party.

Anon says:
13 Apr 2008 at 11:28 pm | #

cincysuz says:
13 Apr 2008 at 04:02 pm | #
One has to feel overwhelming sadness looking at the sweet face of Matt Maupin and mourn the waste of his life, but not a scintilla more than the others, the forgotten 4,000 that haven’t been awarded progressively higher ranks posthumously, that don’t get a visit from the President or a funeral fit for a king, that aren’t allowed to have photographs taken as they arrive home, in caskets.
If Bush attended the funerals of all the soldiers killed, it would be a couple a day. But why would he bother, those 4,000 can’t be parlayed for political gain. Maupin can.

AMEN!

Any loss in this God-forsaken war is indeed tragic---the special tragedy with Matt Maupin’s death is the all-time disgusting “pimp effect” which has been placed upon his death/life.
And THANK YOU CS for bringing that to the forefront.

time98 says:
14 Apr 2008 at 08:53 am | #

According to this site, it appears that Matt Maupin’s father ordered a free DVD about “the murderous reign of Saddam Hussein.” He wanted to show it to his son should he ever return home:

there is a least as much truth with regards to saddam having a murderous reign as anything that was shown in this video
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/content/comments/truth_lies_and_torture_stories_from_iraq/

Are you denying that saddam was a murderer?

And yes I will be at GABP not to party but to pay my respect for matt whom I had the opportunity to meet- just like I was at the funeral for nick erdy who I knew as well. It is a funeral not a party. grow up

White Male says:
15 Apr 2008 at 06:53 am | #

time98 wrote.......
And yes I will be at GABP not to party but to pay my respect for matt whom I had the opportunity to meet- just like I was at the funeral for nick erdy who I knew as well. It is a funeral not a party. grow up

Thank you for a good post. I will be at the GABP as well to pay my respects and offer condolences to the Maupin family. Perhaps as well I will extend a one finger salute to the Phelps crowd.

Look at it this way - cincysuz can kill three birds with one stone.
1. She can spit in the faces if the Phelps crowd.
2. She can spit on the casket.
3. She can spit in the Maupin’s faces.

We do not know at this point in time how history will judge President Bush, but chances are one hundered years from now he will be regarded as a great President who possessed insight, wisdom and did the right thing.

The United States lost 19,000 soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge.

http://ice.mm.com/user/jpk/battle.htm

BATTLE FACTS

· The coldest, snowiest weather “in memory” in the Ardennes Forest on the German/Belgium border.

· Over a million men, 500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans (more than fought at Gettysburg) and 55,000 British.

· 3 German armies, 10 corps, the equivalent of 29 divisions.

· 3 American armies, 6 corps, the equivalent of 31 divisions.

· The equivalent of 3 British divisions as well as contingents of Belgian, Canadian and French troops.

· 100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured.

· 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.

· 1,400 British casualties 200 killed.

· 800 tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German aircraft.

· The Malmedy Massacre, where 86 American soldiers were murdered, was the worst atrocity committed against American troops during the course of the war in Europe.

· My division, the 106th Infantry Division, average age of 22 years, suffered 564 killed in action, 1,246 wounded and 7,001 missing in action at the end of the offensive. Most of these casualties occurred within the first three days of battle, when two of the division’s three regiments was forced to surrender.

· In it’s entirety, the “Battle of the Bulge,” was the worst battles- in terms of losses - to the American Forces in WWII.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cincysuz says:
15 Apr 2008 at 06:15 pm | #

Bush has already been judged the worst president in U.S. history and that will hold true 100 years from today.

And who cares about your stupid statistics? Are you so ignorant you don’t even know what you’re saying? You dismiss and diminish the loss of Matt Maupin and every other casualty of this invasion. In fact, those statistics only show that you believe we’re getting off easy. A few thousand? Apparently you’d like to see more. So the loss of Maupin’s life was no big deal to you. Who cares, according to you, this is no Battle of the Bulge! You think like George Bush. Why would he, from a multi-millionaire family, who for generations have never worked an honest day in their lives who attended elite Eastern schools, why would he give a shit about kids that have so little they risk their lives just for college money. You and he are on the same page. And the Maupin’s have been sold that bill of goods as well. Never forget the jokes Bush has made, ridiculing the purple heart. That’s the real George Bush. He must laugh himself to sleep every night knowing how he’s fooled Americans into sending their own kids to the slaughter so he and his friends can get richer.

But hey, party down, dude! That’s the American way.

says:
15 Apr 2008 at 07:40 pm | #

White Male!

You forgot to mention the 20 million, that is 20,000,000 Russians who lost their lives. Is it because they are Russians and their lives don’t count? If not for the Russians you might be speaking German today.

As to the subject of Maupin, it shows once again how people in the USA need to be martyrs.

Maupin got himself killed. He chose to join the army. We could make war on others without guys like Maupin.

And it is said Maupin’s father bought a DVD on Saddam. I wonder if he has justified his son’s death with the DVD. Does it justify the USA’s killing of all those people. If I had a son that volunteered to fight in such a war like Korea, Vietnam, Panama or Iraq, I would feel that I failed as a father. One of the reasons we went to war with Iraq was that we thought we were so strong militarily and could not possibly lose. We sure did not consider fighting Russia in the cold war years.

says:
16 Apr 2008 at 01:26 pm | #

4/16/08 Enquirer.

“Army officials have told the parents of Sgt. Matt Maupin that some of the Iraqis believed to be responsible for their son’s capture four years ago are in custody.”

Does this sound like a load of horse shit to anyone else? Just in time for the funeral celebration. yea Team USA!!!!!

cincysuz says:
16 Apr 2008 at 09:45 pm | #

No more than the claim that Iraqis, wanting to bring closure to the Maupins, led authorities to Matt’s body. Iraqis supposedly concerned about the Maupin’s grief? Not worried about their own half million plus dead, neighborhoods devastated, infrastructure destroyed, torture commonplace, and their primary concern is the feelings of their invader’s families? Now that’s a crock of shit. And a tale so arrogant that only an American could make it up.

But here’s one even more bizarre. Add 2 + 2. Keith Maupin wants to have it both ways. He’s held to the line publicly that his son was alive, demanding that dangerous missions be undertaken to find Matt. Welcome home celebrations planned. Elaborate tales spun of what he’ll tell Matt. While, today claiming that he’s known for a year that his son’s “killers” have been captured. Surely, some poor bastards picked up off the street have had this pinned on them. And Keith quoting Ashcroft today was another creepy addition to this ongoing horrific gory embarrassing saga. What kind of scam are the Maupins trying to run here? At the airport, when they were leaving for Washingtin,apparently some employees passed around the hat and proudly handed the Maupins $300. For what?????????? Who wants to bet there’s not a movie, at least for TV in the making and the mom and dad are in negotiations for who’s going to play them? That wouldn’t have happened if their son was relegated to the ranks of the forgotten 4,000 so it has to keep going. Tommy Lee Jones, as usual? Sally Fields? And of course like all the other opportunists, the profits will go to the “troops.”

White Male says:
17 Apr 2008 at 07:46 am | #

Cincysuz .........
Not worried about neighborhoods devastated, infrastructure destroyed

-------------------------------------------------

Yes, we should have considered the infrastructure in this invasion. But the rebuilding process should be financed their oil profits.

cincysuz says:
17 Apr 2008 at 05:36 pm | #

How about financing our infrastructure with U.S. company oil profits? It’s a mess. Is that all you’ve got white male? Thought so.

Gargle says:
17 Apr 2008 at 08:22 pm | #

White Male- have you been to Iraq? Well guess what sucker-I have. It is a stupid war- STUPID. Maupin enlisted just like I did- and he knew he was going to be deployed- we have all been told that.

He is no different than the other 4000 who have lost their lives. Now if Halliburton had done their job correctly and had warned this convoy of the dangers there- this would be a mute point.

I didn’t need 9-11 to fly my flag and I don’t need to have another brother in arms killed to feel the loss.

There is a bunch of crap going on that the American public doesn’t know about.Just go to MSNBC tonight and read about the 1 in 5 who is suffering from mental illness,and then the domestic abuse that I saw when I got home. And the suicides that are buried into the losses and not correctly reported. It is all a bunch of BS.

Angy AirMan- you bet your ass I am. I’m counting down my month to go and then- I’m out of here. All the training $$ they spent on me will be a waste.

Just like this war a waste.

And the weather in Iraq is now reaching a nice 90 degrees during the day.

So White Male-go to hell. There is hell freezing over when a lot of people agree with Cincysuz. And we are welcoming them for having the guts to talk about it.

cincysuz says:
18 Apr 2008 at 05:53 am | #

Gargle - thanks for your service. I hope that you’ll contact the Iraqs Veterans Against the War. A great group of men and women and comrades. They give each other the support that only another person that has been in that position can offer. Someone that’s been there. And also help with re-entry and services. Be safe. Bless you.

cincysuz says:
19 Apr 2008 at 06:46 pm | #

Let’s see. It’s been less than three weeks since Matt Maupin’s remains were found and Keith Maupin and the Pentagon claim that his killers have already been sentenced to death. In just a short couple of weeks the killers have been captured, tried and convicted and maybe executed even PRIOR to the funeral of their supposed victim. Shouldn’t we have heard of this trial. One would think there would have been a great deal of publicity surrounding the trial of those that killed a soldier so important that his funeral is held in a major league ball park. Were there witnesses? Testimony? There are a lot of questions. How long does a murder trial take in this new Democratic Iraq? Were these guys tried in a U.S. military court? Does this set a precedent for bringing to trial U.S. soldiers that kill Iraq citizens? That only seems fair. Why did the Pentagon, according to K. Maupin, put up a $200,000 reward for information leading to finding Matt Maupin? Will they do this for all missing soliders? These sound like outlandish claims.

says:
19 Apr 2008 at 08:33 pm | #

Cincysuz!

Good points, indeed!

Do you ever look around and wonder where you are? What is it that drives people; what causes the herd to move? Should the herd have the right to vote? They put Bush in office twice. They put his father in office once, but his father did not appear as stupid as the present President Bush, but the older Bush really was not very smart either.

We are a society where the herd follows actors and entertainers as if they more than the average man. They buy books because Oprah tells them to. They listen to weatherman as if the weatherman can control the weather two or three times during a local half-hour “news” program. They tolerate twenty minutes of commercial each hour for garbage shows over airwaves that belong to them.

They say they support their troops but refuse to demand that they return home.

Where is the sanity?

cincysuz says:
20 Apr 2008 at 08:24 am | #

That this need to belong, suspicion of inviduality, retreat from critical thinking, and suspension of reality has reached a point where parents can be convined to sacrifice their very flesh and blood, without need for any explanation, makes me think we’re are all but lost. And then celebrate it, inciting and encouraging others to do the same. Jubilant when more go. Vehemently opposed to anyone that wants to block future sacrifices. Many other animals will fight to the death to protect their young and even extend that protective upbrella over those young that aren’t connected to them biologically. Instinct. What happened to it? How many more have gone to their deaths from buying into this insidious war glorifying game that’s gone on here for 4 years. Is the celebration at the ballpark one, big recruiting extravaganza financed by the Pentagon? Will recruiters be working the crowd?

God bless Cindy Sheehan, the good mom who every day honors her dead boy by working to save another mother’s son. And if you interpret this as NOT supporting the troops instead of supporting and trying to save the troops, reread the first sentence. That’s you.

cincysuz says:
28 Apr 2008 at 06:46 am | #

Is this poor kid now and finally laid to rest? Has using him as a recruting tool finally ceased? 30,000 to 40,000 expected to attend at the Ball park? Even the promoters admit only 3,000 showed up and I suspect that’s exaggerated.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008