On Tuesday, several members of the local group ACTIVATE passed out information outside of a speech given by retired Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis. The information outlined Maginnis’ history of fabricating information to support the war in Iraq, as well as his involvement in the religious right and his promotion of discrimination. The event was held on Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus, and was put on by International Relations Organization, the GVSU Armed Forces Association, the Middle Eastern Studies Department, and the Student Life Fund. After discovering people were passing out information critical of Maginnis, a member of the International Relations Organization approached one activist and attempted to tell him that the information on the fliers was wrong. Upon questioning about what information was wrong, he replied that Maginnis was on CNN as well as Fox News. This person then returned to the building, only to return a few moments later to hassle the group more. He demanded to know who the leader of ACTIVATE was. When told there were no leaders and decisions were based on consensus, the man called the group “communists” and told everyone entering the building that the information they received was from “protesters”
Inside of the event Maginnis was greeted by a sympathetic crowd. His presentation began with a discussion of the war on terror, following which he made a jump into the War in Iraq with little explanation of how the two were connected. Throughout the speech, Maginnis made a variety of outlandish claims reminiscent of his claims made prior to the war in Iraq. Some examples of these claims are as follows:
- He claimed that the Military Commissions Act grants all those subjected to it that same provisions of civil court.
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He claimed we have “reason to believe that Iran will use nuclear weapons.”
- He claimed that Iran wants a nuclear holocaust so that it can bring about the 12th imam.
- He stated he thinks that Iranians were at the North Korean test of their nuclear weapon.
- He admitted that the point of the war on terrorism is to impose a different way of life on people.
- He advocated that the now Shite leader of the insurgency should have been rounded up and “taken some where” prior to his rise to a leadership position.
- He made the absurd claim that anti-US sentiment is fueled by other countries’ hatred of our riches.
His discussion about detainees at Guantanamo Bay was also interesting, claiming that they were mostly picked off of the battle field. He also told of how you can smell the ocean from the cells. This was followed by a mildly offensive story about a man went in weighing 100 lbs, and now weighs 400 lbs because he loves the food and treatment so much. Maginnis reiterated his claim that interrogation of prisoners is not abusive, citing one prisoner that gave them information in return for a Twix bar and a copy of a Martha Stewart magazine. However, Maginnis’ claims about Guantanomo were contradictory as well. He claimed that everyone in the prison is a killer and an enemy that can’t be in society, while a few sentences later he bragged about how many inmates the US has released, and claimed that the US would let more go, but no countries want to take them.
Following the presentation, there was a Q and A section. During this a member of ACTIVATE pointed out Maginnis’ lie about people being charged under the Military commissions act being granted the same provisions as a civil court. In response to this Maginnis simply talked about how nice it is at Guantanamo Bay. The Grand Valley newspaper, the Lanthorn, ran an article in their Thursday edition on Magginnis’ visit. They cited many of his outlandish claims, but despite two letters to the editors, a press advisory from Media Mouse, and a group willing to talk to them, they failed to provide any other view on Maginnis’ claims. In fact, they reduced opposition to Maginnis to a “small group of protestors.”
