| As you all know by now, Micah Wright has come clean about lying about his service record. Why did he do it? Well you should check out his original apology helpfully archived by Jim Treacher. Treacher talks about it in greater depth on his blog.
Unfortunately I'm a bit pressed for time tonight, but I want to get this out while the feelings are fresh.
I interviewed Micah on three occasions. The first was an email interview about Stormwatch, which I can't find the link for at the moment. The second time was an in-depth 2-part interview conducted in person. The third was an email interview regarding the upcoming Vigilante series for DC.
I enjoyed interviewing Micah. He was smart and funny and articulate, and his wacky background as an Army Ranger turned animation scribe made him instant copy.
And make no mistake. That is instant copy. Wrestler turned writer Mick Foley. Actor turned governor Arnold. People are always interested in folks who can switch gears. They say there are no second acts in American lives, so it's fun to see someone flip the script.
An amusing anecdote occurred during the in-person interview. It was one that raised warning bells at the time, as small as it was. We were walking down the street and I was walking at my normal, New York pace. Which is fairly speedy because we have a lot of ground to cover.
And Micah said "You're walking a little too fast for me!"
And I of course, gave him a big ribbing. Former Army Ranger can't keep up with a tiny little woman? But I wondered. I mean not that people who were in the service don't get out of shape like everyone else. But people who are physically fit for a period of time – and Micah was in the Army 4 years, supposedly, remember – generally have some kind of fitness jones to begin with.
So anyway, the fact that I walked faster than Micah just seemed amusing at the time. But there were a few other things.
Don't let his apology confuse you. Micah constantly goes on about the Rangers. Maybe he was playing it up for a reporter, but this wasn't something he tried not to talk about. He made constant references in his conversation to it. I remember him looking at a billboard of some sixpack sporting male models in a beer ad and remarking how phoney that was "Even the guys who were in the Rangers who were in really good shape didn't have those kind of six-packs," he said.
Which, now that we know he just hung around the Rangers, could have been a true statement now that I think about it.
Anyway, why am I going on like this? Well, as if you can't tell, I'm steamed. I'm steamed because I saw first hand Micah being a spokesman for the anti-war movement, a movement I very much believe in. The reason I interviewed him in person was because he was in New York for a week promoting his book. I attended one of the slideshows he did. It was full of Zinn-loving, granola crunching lefties. And they were eating it up with a spoon. He was a good spokesman, full of outrage and soundbites. He did a bunch of liberal talk shows as well – or claimed he did anyway.
And now he's handed all the people he clashed with a giant fucking howitzer to discredit everything he believed in – or said he did – and a lot of things I believe in. And I resent that.
The right-wing blogerati have already picked this up. Go here to get started. His book is called "anti-American." That hurts. Criticizing our nations bad behavior in order to make it the place we know it should be is not anti-American. You'll also see a bunch of Micah's propaganda posters ticked up with anti-Micah Wright slogans. What's sauce for the goose, I guess.
The first of many, I suspect, smoking guns is here where an ex-girlfriend reveals what he was really doing during the Panamanian conflict: lying, stealing newspaper and being a funny wacky kind of guy.
Is this story going to blow over in a few days? Yep. But it's also entered the great vat of paranoid conspiracy. Right-wingers are going to remember, because you know what, if it were a guy from the right who got caught, I would remember. When you get caught in a lie that huge and monumental, people use it. It's the ad hominem attack.
I'm also really steamed for another reason. Over on Micah's forum, people came over and called him a liar. And they would be gagged and banned. Supposedly because they were illiterate trolls. But if you read this thread over on Socnet, the ranger forum, you'll see they are actually just regular internet folks. Who could smell a phoney miles away.
Look, guys lie about being firemen or police officers or in the army all the time. They do it to get into women's pants, to get attention and other things. And the real deals know about these phonies. Trust me on that.
Being in the army certainly doesn't make you a good person. The recent photos of atrocities committed by Americans and Brits in Iraq proves that. Some soldiers are rapists and thieves. Some are heroes. Some fight for what they believe in. But at least they put their lives on the line, for real. And I respect that. I respect our armed forced, even though I'm anti war. Many male members of my family served. Some thought it was the worst time of their life, others got medals. Two of my grand uncles are decorated WWII vets. A distant cousin died on the beach in Normandy.
It really, really bugs me that Micah called so many people who really did serve and risk their lives, liars. His contrite, inconsistency riddled "apology" delivered when the jig was up, doesn't even begin to cover that or make amends.
Okay that's all I have time for now. As I said, this will blow over in a few days. If nothing else, Micah has proven himself a vividly imaginative writer, with a gift for sloganeering and verisimilitude. Honestly, I hope he can find a way out of this and find a way to make a living doing what he does best: telling lies for fun and profit. He's obviously very very good at it. | 
