Sneha Girap (Editor)

Wade Zirkle

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
Wade Zirkle


Wade Zirkle About Wade Zirkle StrongPoint Holdings

Wade zirkle drives in the demolition derby


Wade Zirkle is a decorated American military veteran of the Iraq War. He is the founder and former executive director of the Vets For Freedom Action Fund, a political action committee (PAC) whose stated mission is to "help candidates-mostly combat veterans-who believe in achieving success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the overall War on Terrorism, get elected to the United States Congress and other Federal positions."

Contents

Wade Zirkle Tweets with replies by Wade Zirkle WadeZirkle Twitter

Wade zirkle vets for freedom


Biography

Zirkle served two combat tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, first as a Light Armored Vehicle platoon commander with the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion during the invasion of 2003, and then as a rifle platoon commander with the 2nd Battalion 1st Marines in the First Battle of Fallujah in 2004. During his second deployment to Iraq, he was badly burned as a result of an insurgent suicide bomb attack on a convoy he was in. He is a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal.

He returned to Iraq for the third time as a civilian freelance journalist in 2006, where he was embedded with the Iraqi Army in Ramadi. He was the first American journalist to report that the new American counter-insurgency strategy being implemented in Anbar Province was working, and later wrote controversial editorials in the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Weekly Standard claiming the "oilspot strategy" was seeing signs of success in Iraq. It was not until three months later, that the Los Angeles Times was the next newspaper to report such news, as it stated "tribal leaders in Anbar province were turning against the Al Qaeda resistance." It was not until 11 month after Zirkle's initial report that the New York Times acknowledged that Anbar was "undergoing a surprising transformation". In 2009 he wrote for the Fox News Channel while he was embedded with U.S. troops and Afghan Commandos on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Zirkle is currently a managing partner of the financial services firm StrongPoint Capital, LLC, in Woodstock, Virginia. He previously worked for Lehman Brothers Asset Management and was on Wall Street during the 2008 financial crisis. Originally from Edinburg, Virginia, Zirkle graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 2000.

Criticism

In October 2006, the CBS Evening News was criticized for giving free airtime to Zirkle to promote a force increase in Iraq of 30,000 troops. Four months later, President George W. Bush announced the increase of 24,000 troops, leading many left-wing activists to speculate that Vets for Freedom was coordinating a Republican Party-orchestrated public relations campaign.

Articles by Wade Zirkle

  • A Fifth Star for General Petreaus; by Pete Hegseth and Wade Zirkle; The Wall Street Journal
  • U.S. Probes Whether Afghan Forces Colluded With Taliban in Deadly Attack; by Wade Zirkle; Fox News
  • The View From the Chow Hall; by Josh Clark and Wade Zirkle; The Wall Street Journal
  • The Birth of an Army; by David Bellavia, Owen West and Wade Zirkle, The Weekly Standard
  • In Ramadi, a Test of Iraqi Forces by David Bellavia and Wade Zirkle, Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Troops in Support of the War; by Wade Zirkle, The Washington Post
  • When Media Pull Back, Coverage is a Casualty by Wade Zirkle, Philadelphia Inquirer
  • References

    Wade Zirkle Wikipedia


    Similar Topics