"Swift boating" Iraq Whistleblowers.

November 26, 2005 -- "Swift boating" Iraq Whistleblowers. The same gaggle of GOP right-wing fake, phony, and fraudulent "veterans" who savaged John Kerry, John McCain, Special Forces Lt. Col. Dan Marvin, 60 Minutes and others are now taking on Iraqi War veterans who have blown the whistle on U.S. torture of prisoners in Iraq. The latest victim of these self-appointed vigilantes is Sgt. Frank G. Ford, the 32-year veteran of military counter-intelligence and presidential security detail operations who was unceremoniously removed from Iraq strapped to a gurney after he cited several cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq. His contention is supported by fellow 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion veteran Dave DeBatto.

Enter a group called VeriSeal , a murky McLean, Virginia-based organization tied to an equally murky contractor advertising counter-terrorism/protection, intelligence, investigations, and security services.

VeriSeal claims that Ford was not entitled to wear a SEAL insignia even though Ford said he was a Navy corpsman assigned to a discontinued SEAL training program in the 1980s. Navy corpsmen are similarly assigned to Marine Corps combat units. Nevertheless, VeriSeal's accusations were quickly picked up, a la the 60 Minutes Texas Air National Guard "scanned" original documents story and the Swift Boat vets claims, by right wing web sites like FreeRepublic.com, which proceeded to trash Ford in the same manner they attacked Dan Rather and John Kerry.

VeriSeal's web site has a list of individuals it claims have wrongfully cited or have had referenced their US Navy SEAL veterans' status. Cleverly, the site mixes actual frauds with those whose whistleblower activities earn them the wrath of the organization, which apparently claims to have some sort of official access to Department of Defense military records (Naval Special Warfare Command and Naval Special Warfare Archives), access that enables it to question information contained in official discharge papers (DD-214s). The Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California, however, does not endorse the activities of operations like VeriSeal.

The site also attacks Navy reserve Captain O.C. Smith, someone who never claimed to be a Navy SEAL but was a reserve Navy pathologist whose civilian job as Shelby County Medical Examiner put him front and center in two very suspicious deaths: the so-called "suicide" of top Harvard virologist Dr. Don C. Wiley and the murder of Tennessee driver's license examiner Katherine Smith. Dr. Smith has been the victim of a coordinated discrediting campaign because of his intimate knowledge about both suspicious deaths -- murders likely connected to criminal conspiracies involving the anthrax attacks and 911, respectively. VeriSeal also attacks former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's fellow Iraq War skeptic. The web site claims that Armitage "lied" about his own SEAL background, a contention that Armitage denies. A Wall Street Journal article features retired Navy Commander Paul Galanti runs a site similar to VeriSeal. Galanti was a leader of the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans" who questioned John Kerry's Vietnam service and the chair of John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign in Virginia.

A perusal of the principals of the VeriSeal web site and its associated firm points to a group made up of war book authors and TV and movie script writers who are selling their various "services" to the Federal government. VeriSeal is said to be a "service" of Security Enterprise Consultants as a "no cost public service." VeriSeal's principals are listed as Charles Pfarrer, author of "Warrior Soul; The Memoir of a Navy SEAL" and Hollywood screenwriter identified with "The Jackal," (Bruce Willis, Richard Gere) "Navy SEAL," (Charlie Sheen, Bill Paxton) and "Darkman;" Marvel comic book hero movie starring Liam Neeson) and Steve Waterman, author of "Just a Sailor: A Navy Diver's Story of Photography, Salvage, and Combat." VeriSeal is run by retired Senior Chief Kent Dillingham who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

VeriSeal's corporate "sponsor," Security Enterprise Consultants, claims it is a "'post-service only' organization comprised exclusively of veteran government and military personnel with ten or more years of operational experience." It lists a partner called Special Ops Associates, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, FL that provides special security services in Afghanistan. The Fort Lauderdale firm also runs http://www.maritimesecurity.org/. Although its VeriSeal crew is heavily laden with book authors and TV and movie script writers, the company maintains a "No Media" policy applying to "printed press, television, and motion picture projects." Its web site also has a "special access" required page. One of its advertised offerings is "repatriation services."

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