Thomas Ricks, who invested a lot in Courtney, wasn't too bothered by the outing: "pHoNy GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD." Neither was Crispin Burke at Wings Over Iraq.
I can't say the news didn't bother me, although I'd known for a long time that all was not right with Courtney Messerschmidt.
I got the news via Facebook, as did a number of people who Courtney'd been working with. I didn't quite understand it at first, because it wasn't a personalized note. Yeah, she confessed that she wasn't the primary author of GSGF, and that she hadn't attended the University of Georgia. But Courtney's been communicating with me since mid-2007. She'd write emails to wish me a good day at work, or to ask questions about neoconservatism. I considered her a friend and neocon protégé.
So I felt a real sense of betrayal. Indeed, Courtney and I exchanged hundreds of e-mails. She sent me this background in late 2007:
On Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 6:28 PM, Courtney MesserschmidtLast weekend I asked Courtney to confirm four questions:wrote:
Hi Donald,
Ok - whenever you start to zzzzz out, please remember that you asked.
My 'rents are very old. In fact I have nieces and nephews older than me. My mom taught college and my dad retired frm the AF and works at a world famous aeronautical firm near Atlanta. He says he'll know when he gets to retire from that depending on what school I go to. One of my brother in laws is a Capt in 'Old Ironsides' - America's Armor division. He was an LT in Najaf I think in Aug 2003 when Mookie Al Sadr's Mahdih Army v1.0 was granted access to the perfumed halls of Allah.
When all my friends plowed through Paris' heiress book - I was plowing through Dennis Ross' "Missing Peace", Bodansky's "High Cost of Peace" and "Beyond Paradise and Power" by Ischinger, Fukyama, Applebaum and others, Michael Oren's "6 days of war". Alexander Bevin's "How America got it right' and Larry Schwiekert's "America's Victories" are essntial reading.
I have widely traveled throughout Europe including Ireland, Great Britain, France, Benelux, Deutschland, Czech repub, Italy, Greece and Belgium. In The ME I've been to Israel, Egypt and Turkey. In March 2002 me and some friends almost singlehandedly crashed HAMAS's condolences site for suicide bombers and their family after the Seder massacre. Hasn't been up since..
Being blessed with an unusual last name helped drive me towards history. Having to drive through multiple civil war battlefields to get any where tended to fuel my curiousity.
911 was a big influenece as I remember sitting on the floor at home eating my Captain Crunch Berries when that couple held hands and jumped from the 70th floor of the WTC. Just then the avuncular Peter Jennings cut to their man in Gaza. THere they were. Having a great old time - passing out laffy taffy with that demonic cry Alluha Ackbah. "I only wish that Bush was in those towers with his precious baby Sharon" is what one woman alledgedly said.
I was trapped at home one summer with my dads immense library. New books like James Spahns 'Rise of the Vulcans' and old ones Gary Dorrein's "Imperial Designs" or Robert Kagan's "Paradise and Power' had an effect - The more I studied American History the more convinced I became that America "...ain't what's wrong with the world..." I saw Victor Davis Hanson on Britt Hume's show back around Xmas 2001. I've been hooked every since.
Ivo Daalder's book "America Unbound" is crucial - though not the reasons Daalder would hope for. He kinda wails that 'Merica can do whatever she dang well pleases - unbound by the UN, the EU, NATO, OPEC, OAS, G7's and G8's. I love that!
Curently, my life is so controlled - do this, don't do that so I started my own blog. Mainly because I was sick of people saying the American military was broken, Iraq is a quagmire etc. A random reading of American history shows that is so incorrect - it's either stupid or weirdly unAmerican. Places I went to began to block me from challenging their inappropiate, weak, boring and incorrect handwringing. Empowerment I reckon. Also like Gollum says to Smeagul in "2 Towers" - "Now we be the master!"
I want to work on grand strategy like Dr Posen's but since I have no PHD's or Pulitzer prizes behind my name it may take a while.
I'vr been meaninig to raise this subject with you and now I shall.
Redefinition. The term Neo Con is so misunderstood, so falsely painted that it may be time for a new term to describe that especial perspective. Since Posen himself espoused neo conish views as a fait accompli in FP circles that can be used to our advantage. As far as a new name - I'm leaning towards New Millenialism myself.
Redefinition will be critical in the near future.
Example - Islamo Fascism is out (regardless of what Hitchens says). Mohammedism should be the new term.Tough for critics to cry about that term - after all Mohammed was a fighting, conquering, ruthless, merciless intolerant dictator.
Wow - didn't mean to ramble but remember you did ask. Now how about a bit of reciprication?
I appreciate you sharing your time and ideas with me - spiritually we are very close.
As Fisher said to Churchill,
"yours til charcoal sprouts",
Courtney
You are a genuine neocon, right? I believe you are and that our communications on that were genuine.The only thing she would confirm on record was that she is indeed a hardcore neoconservative. The remaining questions she fudged or ignored. She wouldn't give me a straight answer on the percentage of her self-authored posts at GSGF and she ignored my questions about her personal background. I finally wrote back to say that we were no longer friends.
And the picture of you is genuine, right?
What about your 'rents? Is the stuff you told me about your parents and family true? The military background of your brothers? And so forth. That's all true, right?
And did you write the majority of posts at GSGF, and I mean at least more than half? Or about what percentage?
Courtney's maintained her Facebook page, although she's removed all the pictures of herself. She'd sent me some by e-mail, like the one above. And since she says that Courtney is her real first name, it's likely that the personal pictures are genuine and she's scrubbed them to protect her identity from the inevitable harm to her reputation, should she move on from anonymous blogging to the real world of college and employment.
John Hawkins, unlike some of the others, severed ties with her: "The Courtney Messerschmidt Controversy."
Courtney still publishes at Theo Spark's, where I am a co-blogger, so I may have some peripheral interactions with her in that role. But that's it. Folks get the real me online, through blogging and social networking, email, etc. I expect the same in return, as just the decent thing to do.
4 comments:
The only contact I had with CM was an occasional hit on MidnightBlue which tracked back to GSGF blog.
However, I agree with you on the alarming lack of authenticity this blogger has allowed to fester under her name.
"I'd known for a long time that all was not right with Courtney Messerschmidt."
"... she is indeed a hardcore neoconservative."
I agree with you!
I've held off on responding to this for a while, yet maybe sometimes silence is not so auric, you know?
Dr D's drama and histrionic Kiss and Tell All is - well - disappointing and hurtfully unhelpful
Yeah, it's true - GsGf is a collective - and just unlucky perhaps = yours truly is not a collective or fabrication. In the words of the killer No Doubt tune - i am just a girl
See, When I first went online - Dr D was like one of the 1st cats yours truly ever reached out to. Ppl were saying and writing great things and I just had to know. As indicated in his unauthorized release of previously sworn confidential correspondence, I had a fairly good grasp on neoconism and was really hot for applying it in the new millennium.
And it's equally true that American Power helped point me in the right directions. Always grateful for that.
Right after the 08 election - things kinda changed a bit. Twice Dr D published things from moi that were totally confidential - not meant in any way to see the light of day. To be fair he instantly yanked one of them down and lol'd my concerns on the other.
About this time - I hit him up for some tho'ts on events au courant with a neo perspective - really important chiz going on - at least in my tiny tiny mind - and the responses were like "No time Courtney!" or "We'll talk later Courtney!" or "Too busy Courtney!" only to find his busyness consisted of raging flame wars across the web with anonymous commentators.
Fair enough - hey - it's his time energy and resources you know? He's totally free to use it as he sees fit.
After the 2nd loss of confidentiality - I kinda began distancing myself from Dr Douglas and American Power
When GsGf went through the roof - it was more than i could handle. I didn't wanna quit it - but i couldn't even get through the fan mail from one day to the next. I needed help!
My brother in law saw the stats and pointed me and Lauren in the right directions. I took point - and handled all the contacts, correspondence (which was and is totally confidential) networking for exclusive commentary to share or savvy insights to keep on the down low. I never kissed and told anything.
So all the academics, journos and a few think tank interns that requested pics and vids of black knee high you know what me boots are all safe tho you can prob guess who they are by their curious pariah stats granted to me.
more below
I reached out to sev ppl - Dr Douglas included. Let's form a collective or a new multi writer web site. Dr D was not particularly interested - way too busy blogging about and pursuing stuff that had about as much in common with neoconism and military stuff as Black Veil Brides has with iCarly. The most Dr D would offer was requests for more pics, cell calls and personal intell. Thank Goddlemightay I held off on all that.
Yet others did respond. Real live neocons like Abrams, Donnelly, Fly, Muravchik and Wolfowitz. Pulitzer Prizers like Tom Ricks, journalists like Carl Prine, James S Robbins, Spencer Ackerman. Foreign military cats from Little Satan, Great Britain, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, SoKo and Taiwan
Great Satan's Combat Rock Stars - elite killers of killers like Exum, and Field Graders like Burke, Carstens, Few, Gentile, Nagle and Yingling and countless cats with names with held by request from squad level right up to General - retired AND active - the inventors, actualizers and enablers of the original Surge.
The nat'l Def/Sec military cats appreciated my inquiries, snarky quizes and killer analysis. They adopted me I reckon and gave me great advice, mentoring and sometimes provided awesome stuff to have my way with at GsGf.
Counter Terrorism hopped in the collective too - shadowy cats whose names shall always remain confidential and will never be betrayed.
All these cats gave up unclassified hot deets, partic slants on events, battles, leadership, tactics, strategy - writing and provided direction and guidance that made GsGf's niche'. Many send me stuff they could never say out loud and I use it or lose it depending on a lot of concerns.
While Dr Douglas loudly proclaimed yours truly was his protegee - that was kinda an inside joke. It was and remains pretty clear GsGf simply overmatches American Power on any level of neoconic endeavors.
After sev disappointments - professional and personal, contact was kept at a minimum - tho I did have to hammer him in the early days of Arab Spring to inject some cold rolled steel in his spine for thinking about getting all wobbly and shamelessly hot for committing the unforgivable neoconic sin - accepting despots anytime as an alternative to free choice. To his credit - he conceded I was totally correct of course and maintained something of his neocon bona fides
Living not too far from the biggest collections of Hiz'B'allah cells in the south (Charlotte - Noth Cackalackey), and lots of emails from Palestine and Pakistan fansboys ready to teach me a lesson or three – anonymity seemed kinda smart. I put my face up a lot at GsGf along with a lot of other friends so ppl wouldn't know 'zactly who i was
Despite frantic pleas not to raid or use my facebook pics, family info, my legendary alcohol poisoning incidents, Hooter's gig and personal correspondence stuff sent long ago, Dr Douglas for whatever reasons chose to ignore me and post anyway.
So, as to paraphrase the Great Admiral Nelson - "Publish and be danged"
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