Iraq War Vet Josua Sparling (Amputee) Spit Upon by Anti War Protestor!

[KoKo]

Spitting Image

by digby

So the dirty, long haired hippies spit on wounded veterans yesterday. Isn't it just like them...

There were a few tense moments, however, including an encounter involving Joshua Sparling, 25, who was on crutches and who said he was a corporal with the 82nd Airborne Division and lost his right leg below the knee in Ramadi, Iraq. Mr. Sparling, who was not scheduled to speak, addressed the counterprotesters to voice his support for the administration's policies in Iraq.

Later, as antiwar protesters passed where he and his group were standing, words were exchanged and one of the antiwar protestors spit at the ground near Mr. Sparling; he spit back.



How awful. And it turns out that poor PFC Sparling has been treated terribly by these DFH's time and time again. Michele Malkin reported on another awful incident back in December:

Lots of readers watched Fox & Friends this morning and e-mailed about the disgusting greeting card a wounded soldier received while hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Thanks to reader Shari for taking these cell phone camera shots of the card displayed by co-host Brian Kilmeade:

The card front, decorated with patriotic and holiday stamps, was deceptively innocuous. But take a look at what was inside:




Yes, that's right. It says "P.S. DIE" in the lower right-hand corner.

According to Kilmeade, who visited Walter Reed on Friday, a US Army soldier named Joshua Sparling received the death wish while recovering from a gunshot wound he received in Ramadi, Iraq. It's the only Christmas card he received. Fox & Friends is urging you to counter the hate by sending your thanks and good wishes to Sparling:

Joshua Sparling
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001



Shameful!

Sean Hannity took up his case too and gave Sparling an iPod. (I wonder what neat loot he'll get for being spit upon!)

He has become such a famous victim that he and his parents even went to the State of the Union address at the invitation of Dennis Hastert.

Some might find it odd that such terrible treatment would befall the same man --- first he gets a terrible Christmas card (Christmas!) that tells him to "go die." Then, he was spat upon by protestors --- a myth of the 1960's come to life right before our very eyes. What are the odds?

Luckily the New York Times, which obviously reported his spitting incident without even the most cursory google search on his name, is helping to perpetuate this story for a new generation. From now on, any search of "spitting on Iraq veterans" will turn up this incident to back up the inevitable future claims by wingnuts that they were mistreated by the dirty hippies of 2007. Good job NY Times. That's why they call it the paper of record.

much more about this at.........

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. Joshua Sparling is being exploited beyond belief. Bring them home now.

MKJ

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Parlockian...

:think:

[stevedeshazer]

16. You get triple-extra points for identifying a Parlock moment

I measure these things on my Parlock meter, which currently is pegged.

[Straight Shooter]

3. Maybe he's a relative of that other infamous victim, Parlock.

Yeah, something stinks. Sparling is apparently being coached as an agent for the pro-war movement. A pity he was used by the right wing to fight in a war based on lies, now he's being used again. Very sad.

[Pastiche423]

9. Maybe he isn't being used by the RW

Maybe he just wants attention. Either way, I don't believe that myth is going to work this time.

[Straight Shooter]

15. Maybe both. Very sad that people would stoop to creating a mythical "spit on a soldier" story. n/t

[jody]

4. Did an anti-war protester spit on Sparling? n/t

[salin]

5. I read about an exchange earlier today

can't recall where - but it was mainstream. They spat at the ground at each other. Guessing it was the same incident/person involved. Guessing that if spitting was exchanged that there were provoking words going back and forth as well.

[jody]

6. Thanks. n/t

[tularetom]

7. This poor guy is a tool and doesn't even know it

Advocates of the Iraq clusterfuq are in deepshit if they are already relying on the sad old "hippie spitting on soldiers" bullshit to inflame the populace. It wasn't even true back in the hippie days. I recallan incident where my brother and I (he in Navy uniform) observed 2 soldiers harassing a scruffy looking hippie at the airport. We were ready to go over and help him out when a rusty VW van pulled up, three mountain man looking hippies jumped out and began pounding the shit ot of the soldiers. We had to jump in on the side of the soldiers because they were getiing the shit kicked out of them. The hippies all piled into the van and hauled ass just before the airport cops got there.

[and-justice-for-all]

8. It would not suprise me in the least....

..If this is a planted FAUX NEWS bullshit story.

[Scurrilous]

10. Google images has pics...

...of his father hanging out with the Freepers.



Father of Joshua Sparling, kristinn, and Christopher
Lincoln

[Lex]

I was at the march yesterday and it was a *very* troop supporting crowd.

All the anger and rage for putting our soldiers in harms way for a lie was directed at the White House and Congress and Pentagon.

I think if something like spitting on a soldier had actually happened, the crowd would've been appalled and would've intervened.

This whole thing sounds like total and complete bullshit.

[sakabatou]

11. This smells of something wrong...

[Arkansas Granny]

12. I went over to check out the freeper response to this report.

THERE IS NONE! I read several entries that mentioned Sparling and checked out the website of a freeper who claimed to have been within 10 feet of Sparling when some sort of shouting match took place between him and the protesters, but nowhere did he mention any spitting. What's going on here?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. I think what's going on is obvious. Check my post further down re: Phil Parlock

[Arkansas Granny]

21. I had seen his name upthread, but it didn't click until I saw the pic.

I agree, it has the same sound to it.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. NYT reporter going around in DC to gather virulent antiwar comments

on the alleged spitting story. There was a thread here within the last day or 2 by one of us who was approached by the reporter.
When the DUer, who knew nothing about any spitting incident, made a rational comment about how the antiwar people are not anti-soldier, and speculated on the possibility of a provocateur at work, the reporter wandered off.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. I am the DUer who talked to this reporter

I will ask my friend who was there if he remembers her question the way I do just to make sure but I remember her telling me she saw this spitting incident. When I told her the stories of Vietnam vets being spit on are BS, she said she knew that but she saw this soldier being spit ON by the protester. Then in her story, she reports that the protester spit AT THE GROUND in front of the soldier. That is very different from being spit ON.

I think that I will be writing a letter to the NY Times.

[Jackpine Radical]

25. Thanks. I was trying to remember the details of your post

and hope I didn't misrepresent you too badly, having only my aging memory to rely on.

[Toucano]

14. Total BS. n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. PARLOCK much?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409170013

Serial GOP: Media loves repeated Republican protester, alleged assault victim

Summary:

On September 17, The Drudge Report home page featured a September 16 Associated Press photo of a 3-year-old girl, Sophia Parlock, holding a ripped Bush-Cheney '04 sign and crying as she sits on her father's shoulders. Drudge captioned the photo: "GIRL CRIES AFTER BUSH/CHENEY SIGN RIPPED BY THUGS...". Later that day, The Washington Times published an interview with the Parlock family, whom the paper described as "proudly patriotic."

...

Both The Washington Times and Drudge failed to mention that this is the third time the Parlock family has been involved in so-called assaults involving campaign signs.

As noted by the blog Rising Hegemon, Phil Parlock has claimed he was assaulted at a 1996 protest.

The Huntington man said he was knocked to the ground by a Clinton supporter when he tried to display a sign that read "Remember Vince Foster," the deputy White House counsel who committed suicide in a Washington, D.C., park. His death has become the subject of much debate among Clinton opponents.

"It must have been a strict Democrat who did this," Parlock said, feeling the red abrasions on his face. "Everyone with the exception of him was real peaceful about our protest."

In 2000, Parlock found himself in yet another confrontation with Democrats at a campaign event:

...

— O.W.
Posted to the web on Friday September 17, 2004 at 7:09 PM EST

[CatWoman]

19. that family is full of serial victims, aren't they?

[stevedeshazer]

20. Major Parlock action here

Dude in the backwards gimme cap is the crying girl's older bro.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. LOL He's been had!!

And that damn NY Times reporter - now am wondering if she really did actually see this or if Sparling merely told her about it.

[cynatnite]

23. I thought an anti-war protester spit at the freepers in general...

it landed near him and was construed as this guy being spit upon.

Of course the RW nutjobs will twist it to say the bad people spit on a wounded vet because they hate him for fighting for his country. :eyes: They'll blow this thing up so big that fiction will become fact as does happen with these people.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. Is there any evidence for this?

Didn't think so.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Same Bullshit different war.