The apparent Maine primary U.S. Senate Democrat nominee is blaming a former Navy SEAL for an allegedly fake memoir.
Graham Platner is accusing Marcus Luttrell of “lying” in his popular war memoir about his combat experience in Afghanistan.
Platner claims Luttrell used a ghostwriter who supposedly ripped off another SEAL’s book to create a work of fiction.
The Platner attack is what the Washington Free Beacon calls “the latest example of the far-left Senate hopeful smearing his fellow combat veterans, and of his particular antipathy to Special Forces.”
Platner, who served in the Marine Corps and the Army, has a habit of smearing his fellow soldiers.
In a social-media post 13 years ago, he mocked Army private Teddy Daniels, who was seen on video being shot by Taliban fighters, calling Daniels a “dumb motherf***er who didn’t deserve to live.”
Daniels, who survived, responded late last month, calling the self-styled oysterman “a typical elitist.”
Platner also has claimed the late Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL author of “American Sniper “ murdered innocent civilians during the Iraq war in order to inflate his kill numbers.
Platner in a series of 2013 now-deleted Reddit posts accused Luttrell of promoting “war porn” in his 2007 book.
Luttrell’s memoir was his account of a mission to take out a Taliban militia leader.
While some historians have questioned whether Luttrell embellished the SEALs’ harrowing mission, there is little debate about the courage of the SEAL team, according to Beacon writer Chuck Ross.
Platner himself has pushed an inaccurate narrative on the campaign trail about his own military experience, Ross noted.
He accused five-term GOP U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth term, of voting to send him and his comrades “off to die” in the Iraq War.
His was a reference to Collins’ 2002 vote to authorize the war.
But Platner voluntarily joined the Marines in 2004 – and later worked for a military contractor.
He has written on Reddit that he did so because he “wanted to have an adventure and kill some people.”
