Want to "give back" to U.S. soldiers, Arianna? Stop libeling and dishonoring them.

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On Veteran's Day, most Americans celebrate, honor and remember those who serve, and have served in our armed forces.

Some, however, malign and libel them. Others exploit them for shameless self-promotion. And then, there's Arianna Huffington.

For the first time in our memory (and certainly our documentation), she made what would appear --- to the uninformed eye --- to be an attempt to pay tribute to our soldiers, on Veteran's Day:

Giving Back to America's Soldiers: Let's Make Veterans Day a National Day of Service

The reality is that if Arianna really wanted to "give back" to U.S. soldiers, the first thing she should do is to issue a profound apology to them for what HuffPost (of which she is Editor-In-Chief) has done to them over the past two years. Specifically, under her watch, HuffPost has routinely:

• Published stories (often atop the front page) that libel and defame them, and accuse them of murder, often based on nothing but lies, rumors and decontextualized evidence --- then failed to publish information emerges that exonerates them
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• Vilified former soldiers who now serve as security contractors, protecting U.S. government officials
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• Pathologically violated its own comment policy to allow cyberjihadis and long-term, protected radical leftists to hurl venomous libels at U.S. soldiers, such as that "they are stupid... mercenaries," and "they got just what they deserved," and similar, if not worse. Note that every HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish every one of these "comments" and many, many more --- and that as of November 15, 2010, months later, it has allowed every one of these long-term users to remain active. Yet at the same time, HuffPost routinely bans users who dare to stand up to them --- often within minutes.
  

Those are pretty tough charges. Fortunately, we have the facts to back up every word, comma and period.

And given the fact that HuffPost is now the #1 most-read blog on Earth, and one of America's top ten news sites --- and that the 350,000+ of its unique monthly visitors originate in Muslim-majority nations, including Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia --- this matter takes on urgent significance.

So let's get started --- first, by reminding ourselves of what Arianna has repeatedly claimed are HuffPost's nonpartisan, professional journalistic principles:

"[At HuffPost] there are guidelines that have to be followed -- and they include a prohibition on... inflammatory claims..."
- Feb. 1, 2010

“[T]oo many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned...”
- July 29, 2009

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Examples of how HuffPost has maliciously libeled and dishonored U.S. soldiers, and even exposed them to increased danger

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Here are five recent examples from our extensive archive, which stretches back to 2008.

As you review them, ask yourself: How many U.S. soldiers has HuffPost placed into extra danger --- or gotten injured or killed --- due to its using its reach and influence to incite even more hatred of them, almost invariably on false or overblown grounds?

HuffPost outdoes Al-Jazeera in smearing the U.S. military, incites user smear-fest (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

(October 2010) HuffPost looked at the coverage of the recent Wikileaks document dump, as reported by the New York Times, the AP, the BBC and MSNBC, and got a pretty good idea of the main story: that the Iraqi military and police committed a variety of abusive acts and worse against known and suspected terrorists and insurgents, and the U.S. military did not stop it. This is how they, and even the terrorist-friendly, notorious Al-Jazeera --- whom HuffPost has relied on time and time again for inflammatory libels against the U.S. military, Israel and Jews --- played the story.

HuffPost, however, decided to publish an inflammatory, false headline, insinuating that it was the U.S. military --- not the Iraqi military and police --- that had perpetrated these acts. Predictably, HuffPost's malicious incitement resulted in a torrent of hate-filled user comments against the U.S. military, including at least one open threat of mass murder --- all of which it reviewed, approved and decided to publish.

HuffPost libels former American soldiers (again); users unleash hate-fest in response to this incitement (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

(October 2010) Are honorably-discharged American soldiers (and law enforcement officers) who now serve in the private sector, protecting U.S. government officials during their travels, heroes... or "mercenaries"? Patriotic Americans view these individuals as heroes, who now risk their lives to serve us in another capacity, at our government's request.

HuffPost, however, decided to publish on its front page an inflammatory headline, claiming that our government is hiring "mercenaries" --- whom it falsely, maliciously defines as private security contractors. Predictably, certain long-term users submitted hate-filled comments in response to this incitement --- which HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish, even though many were egregious violations of its policy.

In this article, we paint a portrait of who our security contractors really are --- and three of these American heroes who were struck down in the line of duty. We also reveal the fact that the "journalist" behind this story is someone whom HuffPost knew, or had reason to know, is a deeply disturbed, malicious individual with quite a... "history."

HuffPost falsely smears the U.S. military, again; User hate-fest erupts (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

(April 2010) HuffPost published an inflammatory splash headline on its front page, accusing the U.S. military of committing "collateral murder," apparently without doing any basic fact-checking --- or acknowledging that top conservative blogs had already thoroughly debunked this libel.

It then doubled-down on this deception, by deliberately ignoring one of the TV shows it religiously covers, "The Colbert Report," which obliterated the libels and propaganda behind this story. It then tripled-down on its deception, by disguising a libel-filled opinion piece, "U.S. Troops Gun Down Iraqi Civilians...," by its "Senior Washington Correspondent," to appear as if it was a news story. In it, he demanded that Congress start "giving a shit" about this story, and urged readers to get involved.

On each of these three threads, HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish a nearly endless stream of hate-filled user comments against U.S. soldiers that were incited by its editorial decisions --- all of which were egregious violations of its comment policy.

HuffPost pimps picture of dead Marine who supported US action in Afghanistan to... hawk anti-war screeds

(July 2010) One might think that an advertiser-supported American website of HuffPost's size would not be so depraved as to (a) pimp a picture of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan, a conflict that he wholeheartedly supported...(b) in order to frame its Independence Day screeds against the same conflict... (c) on that Marine's birthday, no less. How sad that this is exactly what HuffPost did today.

HuffPost publishes another incendiary libel against the U.S. military (user hate-fest erupts: HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

(May 2010) HuffPost published a front-page headline accusing the U.S. military of conducting systematic battlefield executions. Specifically, the article accused our soldiers of executing individuals whom they knew or suspected are not terrorists, out of convenience.

So what proof did its source, a known liar, provide? Oh, a few nameless, anonymous people told him stories. Zero physical proof. Zero evidence of any kind. Yet this is apparently what passes for "journalism" at HuffPost.

HuffPost then reviewed, approved and decided to publish a nearly endless stream of hate-filled user comments against U.S. soldiers, all of which were egregious violations of its comment policy.

See more examples of incites hatred of, and dishonors U.S. soldiers in our extensive archive. Don't miss HuffPost's Protection Of Blood Libels Against The U.S. Military, in which we document how it allowed a cyber-jihadist to endlessly post links to fake photos of U.S. soldiers, which he (falsely) claimed depicted them sexually terrorizing Muslim women and children. Yet when another user attempted to post the truth, HuffPost blocked the comments, then banned him.


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ACTION ITEMS

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Are you outraged at HuffPost's inflammatory, malicious libels against the U.S. military --- especially as it has repeatedly claimed to be a nonpartisan "newspaper"? If so, we urge you to do three things:

(1) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management (politely, please), here. You might even request that Arianna (a) issue an open apology to the U.S. military for the harm she has caused it over the past two years --- and (b) match the $250,000 she blew on her self-promotion during the "Restore Our Sanity" rally, with a donation to a soldier's charity (some of which are listed below).

(2) Consider writing to one or more of HuffPost's top advertisers, to let them know your thoughts on what they're enabling with their ad dollars.

(3) Forward the link to this story along to others who support our soldiers.

And to offset the harm that has come, or may come to our soldiers as a result of HuffPost's malicious acts against them, you might make a donation to one of these military charities:

• USA Cares
  "(P)rovides financial and advocacy assistance to post 9/11 active duty US military service personnel, veterans and their families."
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• Soldiers' Angels
  "(P)roviding aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and their families... in a variety of unique and effective ways."
  
  
• Warrior Legacy Foundation
  "The Warrior Legacy Foundation protects and promotes the reputation and dignity of every American veteran."
  
  
• Wounded Warrior Project
  "The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower wounded warriors."
  

Thank you, from HUFF-WATCH.

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UPDATE 1: NewZeal blog reminds us of a great tribute video to the U.S. military on Veteran's Day

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Trevor, blogger-extraordinaire at NewZeal, is about as pro-American and pro-freedom as you can find... and he blogs from the other side of the world. If you haven't seen his site, check it out.. it's a source of information that we value highly.

For Veteran's Day, Trevor posted this video, along with the note, "One of my all time favorite songs, beautifully sung. If it wasn't for the sacrifice of U.S. servicemen and taxpayers in WW2 and since, my country, New Zealand, would not be free today. Thank you."

Thank you, Trevor. Well done.


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