Dakota Meyer, the first U.S. Marine since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor while still alive, has gone from war hero to whistleblower in just a couple of months.

 

Having left the service and been celebrated in the press for his heroic actions in Afghanistan, Meyer again has made headlines for suing his employer, British defense contractor BAE Systems. The defamation lawsuit, filed in a state court in Bexar County, Texas, contends the company accused Meyer of being mentally unstable and a drunk, all of which came up after he complained about BAE’s effort to sell high-tech sniper scopes to Pakistan’s military.

 

Meyer says the accusations are completely false and an attempt to discredit him for opposing the equipment sale.

 

“We are taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and giving it to guys known to stab us in the back,” Meyer wrote in an email to his supervisor, Bobby McCreight, according to the lawsuit. “These are the same people killing our guys.”

 

Meyer shares the opinion of other American soldiers that Pakistan has been an unreliable ally in the war, because of its connections to al-Qaeda and, especially, the Taliban.

 

In its defense, BAE spokesman Brian Roehrkasse pointed out that “The U.S. Department of State, not BAE Systems, makes the decision on what defense-related products can be exported.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Decorated Marine Sues Contractor (by Julian Barnes, Wall Street Journal)

Medal of Honor Recipient Suing BAE for Character Damage (by Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes)

Marine Who Received Medal of Honor Fights Allegations He is Mentally Unstable (by Olivia Katrandjan, ABC News)