In their coverage of Saturday's antiwar march organized by ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS), two West Michigan media outlets featured quotes from a man named Denny Gillem who is identified in coverage in the Grand Rapids Press as an "army veteran." In the Grand Rapids Press, reporter Julia Bauer wrote:

"Army veteran Denny Gillem criticized the march for the pain it would cause soldiers and their families. Such a protest also provides terrorist recruiting fodder, Gillem said.

"Adults are supposed to understand the consequences of their actions," Gillem said."

On Fox 17, Gillem was identified as a "radio host" and was given equal air time to the media spokesperson from ACTIVATE:

"Now I am here to make sure that these protestors don't deface our war monuments."

Radio host Denny Gillem spent 22 years in the Army defending their right to do this, but says demonstrations like this don't help.

"It discourages our troops, it lowers the morale of our troops in Iraq who do know they are here, and in my years in combat, low morale in troops means more casualties."

Not surprisingly, neither media outlet challenged Gillem's claims. Gillem, who was identified as a veteran, was given a free pass on claims that protestors might deface war monuments despite their being no evidence to suggest that ACTIVATE--or any other antiwar protestors--have been responsible for such acts in the past. Similarly, Gillem's claims that the march causes pain for soldiers, lowers morale, and helps recruit terrorists all went unchallenged. By contrast, arguments made by ACTIVATE in both the Grand Rapids Press and the WXMI Fox 17 story were investigated and challenged by reporters.

Still, a bigger question as to who Denny Gillem is was left unexamined in both pieces. As it turns out, Gillem is the host of a radio program called "The Frontlines of Freedom" that airs on Sundays on WOOD 1300 AM here in Grand Rapids. He is a military veteran who served for 22 years in the Army, beginning in Vietnam. Apparently, he started his show because "our military is not receiving the respect and support they deserve." There is no information on either WOOD Radio's or Gillem's website about how the show came to be, aside from it being an outgrowth of a special series on WOOD Radio called "A Colonel's Salute to Veterans." The show began in June 2007.

The show's description on WOOD Radio's website makes it appear to be about honoring veterans:

"From boot camp to taps... and everything in between, we talk about it. Military experience is not required to participate in this weekly discussion of topical news and matters relating to our past and present Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coasties. Every one of us is touched in some way by the efforts of these brave men and women who are serving to support and defend the Constitution, so help them God."

However, the show essentially provides at platform for Gillem to assert his belief that the United States military is engaged in a global war against "radical Islam" and that the military can do no wrong. To that end, Gillem has politicians--mainly Republicans--on his show to give their opinions of US foreign policy and members of the US military to promote the benefits of military service. He has repeatedly defended the Iraq War, linking it to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the "the total failure of mideastern cultures to be successful anywhere." He consistently calls for the Iraq War to continue

However, a significant number of Gillem's shows have attacked antiwar protestors and criticized those who are opposed to the US occupation of Iraq. Gillem has done so by promoting national protests by right-leaning groups, as well as reporting on antiwar protests in West Michigan. Most often, these reports are filed with the usual rightwing "American haters" epithet. Regarding an August 2007 vigil organized by MoveOn.org, Gillem said:

"The America haters from MoveOn.org did their thing last Tuesday evening. They concluded at the corner of Division and Fulton. This group is known for defacing war memorials, so about 40 of you my fine listeners, joined me at the very nearby Veterans Memorial Park around 7:00pm. Around 9:00pm, I am told that about 100 of them assembled. Besides directing some negative comments at us and getting a lot of press coverage, nothing much happened... I came back the next day, and as near as I can tell, noone snuck back in and defaced any monuments."

Of course, Gillem offers no proof for his statement. Claiming that MoveOn.org has been behind actions defacing war memorials is ludicrous; it is a group whose primary tactic is letter writing via the Internet. Such accusations would almost be laughable if they were not being broadcast via the airwaves to a potential audience of thousands. Similarly, no antiwar groups in Grand Rapids have ever defaced a war memorial.

In October of 2007, Gillem talked to former Grand Rapids mayor John Logie about the impact of antiwar protests on the military. During the discussion, Gillem repeatedly said that there are "consequences" to protests against the war. He said that while people have the right to protest, "people get hurt" because the protests detract from morale and low morale leads to people being killed. He also said that protests hurt family members of soldiers serving in wars. Gillem offers no proof that protests lead to increased casualties in Iraq and his only statements in support of his second position were based on personal anecdotes. Logie rejected Gillem's claims on philosophical grounds, but did not address the specific flaws in Gillem's statement.

In December of 2007, Gillem criticized the Grand Rapids City Commission for "insulting the military" by passing a resolution against the war in Iraq. Not surprisingly, Gillem distorted what the resolution--which was quite tame--said, with Gillem instead saying that the resolution is telling soldiers from West Michigan "that their efforts are unworthy." Once again, he claimed that such actions are hurting the morale of soldiers in Iraq without offering any proof.

In January of this year, Gillem reported on the defacement of war memorials in Veteran's Park. Gillem made no claim that this vandalism was tied to antiwar activity, but did mention other cases in which police claimed defacements were based on "hatred of the war." However, Gillem did say, "At least MoveOn.org is one group that openly advocates, coordinates that kind of stuff. I don't think we've had that kind of problem in Michigan yet."

In February, Gillem began pushing for a "counter-protest" against the March 15 antiwar protest organized by ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS). In speaking about ACTIVATE's plans, he said "the local members of the 'I hate America crowd' are having a gathering in support of this abomination in DC (Apparently a reference to the fact that the local protests were held in solidarity with other events happening around the country)." Gillem said, "A bunch of us patriots will be meeting at Grand Rapids' Veteran's Park to ensure that they don't deface our monuments again." Of course, this is a baseless accusation, as he offers no proof to suggest that antiwar protestors--including those from ACTIVATE--have damaged monuments in the past. This call was repeated again on Gillem's March 9 show.

Clearly, given Gillem's history of baseless accusations, none of his comments about antiwar protests in Grand Rapids should be taken seriously. If we could figure this out, why couldn't the Grand Rapids Press and WXMI Fox 17?

Hopefully, they won't rely on his comments again, especially with what he said regarding the March 15 protests on his show this past Sunday. For the most part, Gillem threw out insults, calling antiwar protests "wingbats," "jokers," "uninformed," "stupid," "jerks," and even "Nazis." Again, Gillem claimed that he "protected our monuments" despite the fact that no antiwar group--or even an individual opposed to the war--has damaged the monuments in the past. He said that aside from the Grand Rapids Press over emphasizing the number of protestors in attendance:

"The most memorable observation when it was all over... was that there were about 350 observable body piercings and some of the strangest body odors I've smelled in a long time."

He further said that:

"Their goal was clearly to offend those who had purchased for them their right to march. From any observation, not anyone of them could be taken seriously by any mature adult. They were obnoxious juveniles, of various ages."

He said that before people protest, they should agree to the following:

"1, the terrorists do read our media, so they know what you are doing here today and your activity is greatly encouraging them, making recruiting and fundraising easier for them and raising the moral of their terrorists. 2, our troops also know about your activities. Your activity says clearly that you consider their efforts and sacrifices to be completely unworthy. Why else would you be protesting them? This may well hurt their morale, and I'll tell you as a combat vet, low morale equals more deaths in a combat zone. And 3, the families of our troops know about your actions. Your declarations of the unworthiness of the sacrifices of both our brave soldiers and their families does deeply hurt the families and makes their sacrifices even greater."

Of course, there was no proof given to support these conclusions. Still, he called for people to stop protesting and instead:

"Write your congressman and then go buy a gun, because what makes you think the terrorists won't come here once we cut and run from Iraq? They will come. Hey, they are already here."

With all that Gillem has said to disparage antiwar protestors in the past, he never should have been cited by the Grand Rapids Press and WXMI Fox 17. Far from being a veteran who just had an opinion about the protest, Gillem has a clear agenda and has repeatedly sought to discredit antiwar protests by using falsehoods and petty insults.