Letter: Wes Cooley 2.0

Published 12:15 am Tuesday, August 20, 2024

“The most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a man only tells them with all his might.” — Mark Twain

Many Minnesota National Guard personnel are telling their truths concerning the military record of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president. From their eyewitness reports it’s absolutely clear Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz lied about his final rank and in his statement, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” The man lied about this no matter how the media spin goes that he “misspoke.” It’s in writing and on video.

For those who were in Oregon at the time, Oregon’s U.S. representative, Wes Cooley, was indicted for lying about his military service in the 1994 voters’ pamphlet, and ultimately convicted of lying on an official document.

Walz has placed himself in the same position as Cooley in that Walz’s governor’s office website still claims, “After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.” He in fact retired as a master sergeant.

Although I never served in the military, several of my close friends who did serve in war zones, from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan, tell me this is a case of stolen valor. It would be tough to tell these heroes that he misspoke.

Anyone who does is just inventing the outrageous.

MATT JANES

Jeffers Garden