By UPDATE: More details here about the escaped gay mental patient that claims to be a captain that claimed to command a Marine Battalion in Iraq.
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Via a reader tip comes news of yet another leftist war hero being exposed as a fraud:
Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.
He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.
And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.
Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.
Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else. [Denver Post]
The group that Rick Duncan Strandlof founded the Colorado Veterans Alliance has decided to disband:
But on Thursday the Colorado Veterans Alliance, the organization he founded, announced that it was disbanding, having discovered that his entire story was a sham.
As it turns out, the group said, Rick Duncan is not even Rick Duncan but instead a man named Richard Glen Strandlof.
And Mr. Strandlof, who contrary to his claims never graduated from the Naval Academy or served in the military, is a 32-year-old drifter with a history of at least one criminal conviction, for car theft in Nevada. As a condition of his probation in that case, he was ordered to appear in a mental health court. [New York Times]
Besides being a member of the Colorado Veterans Alliance he was also a member of VoteVets and Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW).
For those that don’t know VoteVets is not really a veterans group. It is a really a liberal advocacy group that claims to speak for the military. The VoteVets.org site, just like the Amnesty International fraud Appeal for Redress group was formed before the 2006 Congressional elections. This site was backed by former Democratic Presidential Candidate General Wesley Clark and the group of retired generals that made headlines before the 2006 Congressional elections by running ads funded by the site speaking out against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a change in strategy in Iraq by sending in more troops.
Interestingly enough even though Rumsfeld had been removed and the new surge strategy in Iraq brought an increase in troops there, VoteVets was still not satisfied. Instead of this site recognizing the changes it had advocated for, it instead become an anti-war site calling for the removal of US troops in Iraq. Since then none of the retired generals has been heard from, but the person we have continued to hear a lot from (for no good reasons) is VoteVets President Jon Soltz who was one of the people willfully fulled by Strandlof. Incredibly the media still calls this group a grassroots movement despite its George Soros connections.
The other group IVAW has had a number of frauds and deceptions exposed over the years and yet they continue to be trumpeted by the left as a legitimate veterans group. All these people and politicians that have willfully using these frauds for their own partisan political purposes should be ashamed, but judging from past incidents many of these people believe the ends justifies the means. In the mean time these people are all busy trying to cover their tracks.
Oh by the way is anyone surprised that Strandlof belonged to a communist group as well? I’m sure Rush Limbaugh is having a great laugh as more of these phony soldiers are exposed.
Also make sure to read this that has a whole lot more about the phony vets that populate these so called veterans groups.
8:59 am on May 17th, 2009 1
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May 17th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Cheryle I have seen no evidence that suggests these politicians knew this guy was a fraud and used him anyway. I believe these politicians were just going with what IVAW and VoteVets was telling them. However, you would think by now that these two groups have been so discredited with all their phony soldiers and lies that no one would want to be seen around them. It will be interesting to see in 2010 which politicians decide to surround themselves with these groups for veteran creditability.
I do think that someone in the IVAW and VoteVets had to have known this guy was a fraud. If I was in these groups and this guy came and told me he was a captain that commanded a Marine battalion in Iraq I would have called BS on him right then and there. Like with many of these phony soldiers their lies are easy to detect by other veterans, but for whatever reasons members of these organizations didn’t bother to challenge this guy.
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May 17th, 2009 at 10:07 am
You’d think that – after having so many frauds exposed over the years – going back beyond the Bush years – the media and even politicians and legitimate groups would at least want to look at a DD-214 before backing someone to the hilt…
The media also has an obligation to check out sources – especially the more explosive the issue…
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7:46 pm on May 17th, 2009 2
Hey, John Kerry was and is a fraud, and is a US Senator. A nose picking, liar who made his reputation by getting a congressional audience. His fabrications and distortions were great media fodder during the 1970s. (By the way ’swift boating ‘ means telling like it is, not fabricating history.)
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11:45 pm on May 18th, 2009 3
I met this guy once in Colorado Springs and knew he didn’t check out. Then I watched he and his cronies fooling everyone for a long time. Always the same guys. Then his cronies gave him up. But some of them may not be so clean either. One of them is announcing he’s running for public office. If you can’t beat ‘em join em????
The “disbanded” group still has some fake vets and is acting like their stuff don’t stink. Too bad real vets to have to prove ourselves when scumbags get away with scamming the public and the politicos.
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1:22 pm on June 11th, 2009 4
“Hey, John Kerry was and is a fraud, and is a US Senator”
Nope, but the people who “exposed” him are frauds. Sorry Gerry !
“By the way ’swift boating ‘ means telling like it is, not fabricating history.)”
No, it means fabricating history. Sorry if you believe the lies Gerry! Look like you need a refill on you Honor and valor tank!
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June 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
To each his own. And you have a right to your opinions. I’ll stand by my comments.
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7:34 am on September 23rd, 2009 5
[...] Against the War” (which does not require service in Iraq) asked Capt. Duncan to appear at several of their events to talk about his experiences. Various candidates for state and Federal offices in Colorado during the last election cycle asked [...]