Robert Young Pelton

Cao has already done a splendid job of covering that which I’m discovering on my own from Pelty’s newest book. But let me add a few observations. It’s hard to say if the eyepatch that Gerry Blackwood was wearing at the screening of Beyond the Call was in order to achieve this look of a pirate. But it’s humorous to think about it, if only for a moment.

Pirate Image source, National Geographic dot org/Pelton/Pirates.

Pelton prides himself on having travelled to dangerous places, and his website touts the flavor and name of someone who’s travelled to hell and back, with the title ‘come back alive’. This is yet another example of someone who lives in a fantasyworld similar to that of Kathryn Cramer’s science fiction world, or Joe Cafasso’s con artist world: Pelton admitted that he isn’t a journalist, yet, he portrays himself as another Indiana Jones type character; having travelled the world just for the thrill of adventure.

Robert Young Pelton devoted a long passage in his book to Billy Waugh. But had Billy known the mind behind the eyes that were staring at him was looking at his long military career and his time working as a CIA covert operator with criticism and contempt, he might have thought twice about granting the interview. Some of this shows in his book, but he demonstrates it clearly in the comments he’s left on the internets.

Whilst ignoring the history that mercenaries have had since the revolutionary war, Pelton ignores quite a bit about the military contractor he seeks to demonize. And his section on Idema seems to be comparing apples to oranges, as he uses Idema as an example of why PMCs are dangerous, yet Idema isn’t a PMC. But his having done it at all was as a favor to Ed Artis; Artis, along with Cafasso, have this insatiable desire to get rid of Idema, once and for all.

As long as Idema is breathing, it seems, these people will stop at nothing to drive more stakes into him; even if it’s symbolic stakes, driven through malignment and lies told in internet chat rooms and in comments sections on blogs.

At the Lavin Agency, they talk in exciting and glowing terms about Pelton:

Robert Young Pelton starts his research where most other journalists stop. Defusing mines, hitchhiking through war zones, and getting kidnapped by Columbian narco-guerillas are all in a day’s work for the host of one of the Discovery Channel’s top-rated shows, The World’s Most Dangerous Places.

WOW! (Image Source: The Lavin Agency dot com) Although the Lavin Agency doesn’t really tell the truth about Pelton’s objectivity where war is concerned, you’ve got to give them credit for pumping up the persona of an indiana jones type adventurer, who is traveling the world to tell a good story, no matter what the cost. One thing they’ve got right is he never romanticizes war conflict. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t take long before you realize his sentiments on war; that there is no room in the world for it and it’s bloody and unnecessary. What a shame, he seems to be saying. All of this useless loss of life for no purpose. But that is what most journalists seem to think about it.

But Pelton goes a few steps further than that. In 2002, he told Salon magazine that the 9/11 attackers were a “Mickey Mouse operation”, and Al Qaeda is the ‘bogeyman’. So much for picking up where the journalists leave off. He’s added the internet to the foreign lands he’s travelled; he’s been leaving little comments on blogs, to pull readers over to Eason Jordan’s project, Iraqslogger. Oh, did we mention yet that he’s a part of the Iraqslogger project? So much for picking up where the journalists leave off. Some of these precious comments he’s left I’ve been collecting as specimens; a mere sampling of his hubris.

Here, I’m quoting from Dread Pundit Bluto who quotes Pelton:

And basically since the Vietnam War, the military realizes that the press is the enemy, because the press is actually faster and more intelligent than the military is. They can assess a military situation long before the military figures it out.

So much for picking up where the journalists leave off.
So what press would that be, Robert Young Pelton? Surely it couldn’t be press like you that has helped destroy peoples’ careers, lives, or military missions, now, could it? Because you’ve claimed on CNN and other places that you’re not a journalist, you’re a writer of adventure books. Well that is clear and obvious; Pelton is an adventurer with his dreamy head in the clouds, living in a world where there’s no wars, and no justification for wars, but lives on the edge (even though it’s in his own mind), travelling to dangerous places in order to get a ’scoop’. We shouldn’t minimize the danger of being captured by Columbian death squads, but we should be asking questions about how, with no military knowledge, acumen or training, he managed to indeed ‘come back alive’ from a scenario like that. National Geographic News has an interview with Pelton after this harrowing experience, entitled Adventure Magazine Reporter Recounts Ten-Day Kidnapping by Colombian Death Squad. Let’s get some priceless pearls of wisdom from the man himself:

I had a fair level of confidence, because of my experience with these groups, that once they found out I was a journalist and that my two companions were tourists, that they would detain us, but they wouldn’t kill us.

Oh. I see. Part of the secret of not getting killed is that you’re an all-seeing, all-knowing journalist who knows better than everyone else how to run a war. The key, he seems to be saying, is to UNDERSTAND those nasty terrorists:

I’m pretty comfortable around rebel groups and terrorist groups, so I know their mindset.

Well isn’t THAT comforting; this guy is ‘comfortable’ around rebel and terrorist groups. Now this is rather humorous:

Do you have any advice for travelers going to this region?

The Darién Gap is an extremely dangerous place—it’s probably the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere, definitely in Colombia. It’s used as a conduit for drugs. There are no police there, there’s no military, the trails aren’t marked. Kuna Indians are freaked out now because of the violence being perpetrated against them. Unless you have a lot of experience in Colombia, I wouldn’t suggest it. [For the most part] the jungle there is not viewed as a place that is pristine and beautiful—it’s looked at as a place where you get killed. Because no one bothers gathering information, like I did. I mean, I know how you can hike the Darién now. But you have to have a group of armed men with you.

Emphasis mine. “You have to have a group of armed men with you.” Armed men? Like mercenaries working for a PMC????

And what happens when someone like Jack Idema turns him down for an interview? He lets the man’s mortal enemies bent on destroying him fill in the blanks. That’s how he came up with that silly the chapter on Jack Idema that has no place in a book about PMC’s.

Perhaps the chip that Pelton himself has on his shoulder about Idema is that Idema exposed in the Hunt for Bin Laden that Pelton is not the first person to have captured an interview with John Walker Lindh, when he’s been shouting about being THE ONE who got that ‘exclusive’ from the mountaintops. Wow. National Geographic Adventure, Discovery Channel, and books…Pelty sure has it made. But don’t pay attention to that man behind the curtain (Idema). We’ll get rid of him, soon enough.

But do you see a similarity amongst all of these people? Perhaps a common thread? They all seem to be pretending to be something that they’re not. Even sci fi girl, Kathryn Cramer, writes about Pelton and Ed Artis and others who belong to this little sick circle of sorry sots. And none of them are beyond seeking Jack Idema’s DEATH, because they know damned well what they’re going to be facing should he ever get back to the United States. Idema’s amazing war through the courts while he’s been in a prison in Afghanistan is a very strange and powerful tale, indeed, and serves as a foreboding reminder of just who he REALLY IS beyond their exaggerated negative depictions and descriptions of Idema.

Particularly if he’s what these people are saying he is. Which leaves a huge cavern of doubt in my mind…the people, as it turns out, who aren’t who they say they are, who’ve lied about what they’ve done, worn medals they haven’t earned to black tie events at West Point, who claim they’re the first to do things when they’re not, and who deny they’ve been in a relationship with the known con artist Joe Cafasso….are all on this ’smear’ side of the ideological aisle.

We haven’t seen a one yet, who can explain the numerous pictures that tell the story of Jack Idema’s long history with the government in counter terrorist operations and human intelligence. How do these people think he’s been able to stay alive all of these months if he didn’t have that expertise?

Come on now, Robert. You should know better than that.

Robert Young Pelton is Canadian born, so that explains part of this.

No secret handshake necessary: Robert Young Pelton infiltrates the world’s great travel clubs—and shows how you can, too. Illustration by Asaf Hanuka – National Geographic Adventure

This summer, drop the pulp. The world’s most inveterate wanderer lays out his top six travel books of all time. Illustration by Asaf Hanuka – National Geographic Adventure

Getting the idea?

So much for picking up where the journalists leave off.

Pelty’s books include “Licensed to Kill”, “The World’s Most Dangerous Places”, “Three Worlds Gone Mad: Dangerous Journeys through the War Zones of Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific”, “The Adventurist: My Life in Dangerous Places”, “Come Back Alive”. It appears as though he’s published several editions of some of these so just look here at Amazon.

Pelty is an overly sensitive pufter; winding him up is an exercise in simplicity. So, it’s fun to see him respond to less-than-favorable reviews of his overinflated ostentatious pomposity, with full view and knowledge of what he and his little group have done. Sorry, Pelty, you can’t email any authorities to complain about ME, lol…as I’m not in America. Although I AM tempted to publish some photoshops of Kathryn Cramer to see if you’ll contact the President or Tony Blair.

My undying gratitude goes to: Right Nation, Blue Star Chronicles, Woman Honor Thyself, Phastidio.net, Maggie’s Notebook, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns , Cao’s Blog, Basil’s Blog (2), Conservative Cat, Pirate’s Cove, Third world county, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, A Blog For All, The World According To Carl, StikNstein… has no mercy, Pursuing Holiness, Shadowscope, 123beta, The Random Yak, The Uncooperative Blogger, The Virtuous Republic, Right Voices, Adam’s Blog, Gone Hollywood, Allie Is Wired, The Pink Flamingo (2), Sujet.co.uk, Leaning Straight Up, Big Dogs Weblog, Pet’s Garden Blog, Conservative Thoughts, Stuck On Stupid, Pursuing Holiness, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Rightlinx, Right on the Right.

I heartily recommend Linkfest Haven deluxe to participate in the linkfests to get more readers to your site.

I will be happy if the internets don’t gobble most of these up.