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A rough draft of the spiritual autobiography of Joseph B Wilson. The history that lead to Toteg Tribe.
Copyright 2003 by Joseph B Wilson
- He had submitted his resignation from the Air Force and would be released from active duty in a
few days. They wanted to arrest him for something before then, even if it was only for attending an
illegal demonstration. The agents asked me if I would testify against Culver if he were Courts
Marshaled. I said I needed to think about it, but if I did I would need to be reassigned to another
base quickly since by testifying I would be putting my life, as well as the lives of my wife and
children, in danger from people like Razor. They told me that if I would agree to testify they would
see to it that immediately after my appearance in court I would be shipped to a new base. They
said I could go anywhere I wanted as long as there was an opening there. I said either Scotland or
Greece, but I'd still have to think about it and let them know Monday.
That week-end I told Daisy what had happened. Saturday night David, a friend who had been
attending our Second Saturday Services showed up. David was a British attorney who lived and
worked in London. Without letting him know why, I asked him if he happened to know Captain
Culver, and David said he had met him once at an international party in London. He told me that he
didn't like Culver -- that the man had bragged about how, as a prosecutor in Viet Nam, he had
pushed for conviction and maximum sentencing of enlisted men who were doing nothing more
than what he did off base. After David left I told Daisy that I'd decided to testify. She said, "OK, I'll
start packing."
Monday I told Green and Jones that I would testify. They told me they'd already checked and there
was no place to assign me in Scotland, but I could go to the 7206 Combat Support Group at
Athenai Airport, Athens, Greece if I wanted to. I said, "Make the arrangements." They did. I was
scheduled to testify a few days later.
On the morning of the day I was to testify a motor pool driver picked me up and delivered me to the
base about 40 miles away where the courts martial was being conducted. I was instructed to
check into transit quarters, then report to the base legal office. In the lobby of the legal office were
several scruffy looking civilian spectators wearing T-shirts with a clenched fist stenciled on them.
After I reported in the secretary told me to take a seat in the lobby. I sat and watched the civilians,
and kept my mouth shut. A few minutes later the prosecuting attorney came out and asked me to
come inside. He apologized for the secretary's screw up and chastised her for making me stay
outside with potential trouble makers. She apologized to me.
The prosecuting attorney asked me numerous questions similar to those that would be asked
during my testimony. Then he allowed the defense attorney and Culver to see me in private and do
the same thing. After they were finished I waited in the prosecutor's office until I was called as a
witness.
After I took the stand and repeated the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, the prosecutor asked me if I had attended the demonstration, why I attended the
demonstration, did I take photographs, were those my photographs, and could I identify Captain
Culver in the photographs. I answered all questions simply and as completely as possible, and
identified Culver in the appropriate picture.
When the defense attorney began his cross-examination the first thing he did was try to throw
doubt on my truthfulness by saying my oath was not valid because "you claim to be a 'witch' and
don't believe in God." I responded that "witch" was a term I did not like and did not apply to myself
and that I recognized God as having both a Masculine and Feminine side which I called God and
Goddess.
The reporters in the courtroom went into a scribbling frenzy and the judge had to order the room
quiet.
Then the judge told me he didn't want to hear a lot of religious philosophy, he just wanted to know if
I considered my oath valid. I told him I did so, and he said "Fine. I accept that. Sergeant Wilson,
Continue."
The defense then showed me copies of my photographs and tried to get me to say that I couldn't
remember taking specific shots. The judge then interrupted again and chastised the defense
attorney telling him he knew very well all I needed to say was that those were the same group that I
had photographed, not the exact pictures. The defense apologized and again tried to discredit my
testimony. This time he took the picture I had taken of Vanessa Redgrave wearing the pig mask,
showed it to me, and said. "This isn't Captain Culver, is it?"
"No sir."
"Do you know who it is, Sergeant Wilson?"
"Yes sir, that's Vanessa Redgrave."
"Not only is it not Captain Culver, but it's a very attractive young lady, isn't it?"
"That's opinion, sir." I replied.
The jury, judge, and spectators all laughed. The defense did not.
The defense asked me a few more unimportant questions before I was dismissed. I was told to
remain on base in case I was needed the next day, but otherwise was free to go.
