Fighting the War at Home (About the fake solider letters)

[Khephra]

Letters home from the war front are some of the revered aspects of history, a treasury of soldiers' impressions and firsthand narratives that hold a value apart from the individual lives put firmly on the battle line. It's all the more disturbing, then, that an apparently orchestrated campaign of letter writing has arisen among some of the American forces in Iraq to highlight what are alleged to be overlooked success stories. What amounts to a warmly worded form letter telling of open-armed welcomes and rebuilt infrastructure was printed by hometown newspapers in the mistaken belief that it was the individual composition of the undersigned soldier in Kirkuk, a relatively peaceful city in Iraq. According to the Gannett News Service, which uncovered the deception, one soldier said his sergeant had distributed the letters to the squad, while another traced his to an Army public affairs officer.

The susceptibility of local editors to the letter, in which each Private Everyman describes Iraqi children "in their broken English shouting, `Thank you, Mister,' " is understandable. But the misleading letter, uncovered by Gannett after it was published in 11 newspapers, coincides with the Bush administration's renewed program of defending the war in an ambitious speaking campaign across the nation. With polls registering rising public doubts, the president and his aides are claiming that the news media unfairly play up negative developments and ignore progress in Iraq.

more......

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/opinion/15WED2.html

[rini]

1. I'll tell you what's really sad

That an officer, and it's not a lower ranking one, didn't have the guts to refuse an illegal/immoral order. Sadder still, guess who'll get the shaft. So typical of Dubbya.

[izzie]

2. C-span just had something on this and gen.(?) said he did it.

I wonder if he votes for his men also?

[JHB]

3. Battalion Commander

"For the moment it looks like it was all the brainchild of Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo, the commander of the battalion in question."
---more--
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_10_12.html#002085
---much more---
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_10_12.html#002074

[rexcat]

4. This is pure military/government propaganda at its worst!

The officer in question should be court martialed, found guilty of treason and shot! Sorry of the rant but this is beyond reason.