Jesse MacBeth admits in federal court that he is a liar

Remember back in May of 2006, when numerous bloggers were digging into the history to of Jesse MacBeth’s story in which he claimed to be an Iraq war vet who was ‘pushed’ by his fellow soldiers to commit attrocities against the Iraqi people?

He admitted today in federal court that his story was false:

A Washington man, whose claims to have slaughtered civilians as a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq were seen by millions on YouTube, admitted in federal court in Seattle today that he was a fake and a liar.

Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, pleaded guilty to charges he faked his war record.

“He was in the Army for 40 days before he was kicked out of boot camp for being unfit,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Sullivan. “He was never in Iraq.”

Macbeth’s story of killing men and women as they left a Baghdad mosque included claims that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and had received the Purple Heart for injuries suffered in combat in Iraq.

His interview was translated into Arabic and distributed in the Middle East, said the U.S. attorney.

“Macbeth’s lies fueled hostility to our servicemen in Iraq and here at home,” Sullivan said.

[…]

Macbeth, the phony U.S. soldier who claimed to have committed atrocities, was sentenced to five months in jail.

He told the judge today he wanted to apologize to “the real American heroes.”

He said he lied about his military record in order to get money and treatment from the VA hospital.

Finally, this sorry story has come to an end. Unfortunately, the types of anti-troops/hate Bush propaganda that Jesse MacBeth and his defenders (and others like them) have perpetuated -and are still perpetuating – on the Internet and in the media continue to embolden the enemy.