Mainstream has caught the multiple soldier, same letter article.

[dutchdemocrat]

Many soldiers, same letter
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq

LEDYARD KING GANNETT NEWS SERVICE The Olympian Online




WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours.
And all the letters are the same.

A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash.

The Olympian received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Spc. Alex Marois, who is now a sergeant. The paper declined to run either because of a policy not to publish form letters.

The five-paragraph letter talks about the soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments, and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where the unit is based.

"The quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restored, and we are a large part of why that has happened," the letter reads.

It describes people waving at passing troops and children running up to shake their hands and say thank you.

It's not clear who wrote the letter or organized sending it to soldiers' hometown papers.

Six soldiers reached by GNS directly or through their families said they agreed with the letter's thrust. But none of the soldiers said he wrote it, and one said he didn't even sign it.

Marois, 23, told his family he signed the letter, said Moya Marois, his stepmother. But she said he was puzzled why it was sent to the newspaper in Olympia. He attended high school in Olympia but no longer considers the city home, she said. Moya Marois and Alex's father, Les, now live near Kooskia, Idaho.

SNIP

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390.shtml

[BJ]

1. Yeah, my Gannett-owned "home town" newspaper ran it too.

The Repug propaganda machine was real clumsy, or maybe clumsier than usual, with this bogus letter-writing campaign.

[pippin]

4. so guess who's behind this?

First there's fake evidence (remember the uranium Niger caper, not to mention old docs about somethign called WMD?) to justify the war, now fake letters to say how well things are going in Iraq? Well, well well whatever will they think of next?


:think:

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. they are making soldiers sign form letters

and sending them to their "hometown papers". This is really typical psyops, military propaganda, but the targets of the operations aren't the enemy, it's us, the American people. Well at least I thought we weren't the enemy.

[Cat Atomic]

3. Waitaminute- if they signed it, then it was passed out to them

in Iraq, yes? And if the guy doesn't know why it was sent to a paper, then the soldiers obviously didn't even have anything to do with mailing the things.

So... the form letters were passed out to these guys in Iraq, who signed them and passed them back in? What the hell? Seems like it should be simple enough to establish precisely who organized this Pravda-lite campaign.

[ewagner]

5. Agreed

There should be muddy footprints all over those letter.

Who has enough guts to name names?

[tom_paine]

7. Don't hold your breath. Busheviks do NOT investigate other Busheviks

Period. Nothing will come of this disgrace.

[tom_paine]

6. Jesus Christ, it really is getting pretty Soviet here, isn't it?

:puke: :puke:

Just WHAT the hell are we becoming?

Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley would understand.

[tom_paine]

8. This has GOT to remain KICKED!

:kick: :kick:

[obietiger]

9. I agree

- this is bad behavior for someone in a position of control. Shame on them.

[Spazito]

10. It continues to amaze me how infantile the tactics are by the Bush...

cabal and their supporters. These faux letters show how pathetic and desperate they are.

[Room101]

11. California newspaper email contacts, please email them

the story. http://www.cbrt.org/resource_newspapers.html

[arcane1]

12. more astroturf... at least they found this one out!

how often might they send different letters, that we never know about?

This teaches us one thing: ANY letter claiming to be from a soldier in Iraq is now suspect. Thanks alot BFEE, we really fucking needed that

:mad:

[oasis]

13. As Bill Bennett would say, "Where is the outrage?"

[Gin]

14. This reminds me of prisoners forced to write false confessions.....maybe

the 2 week trip home was tied to signing this propaganda. (trip home on their own dime no less)

[Newsjock]

15. Top of the front page in print!

Courtesy the Newseum, here is how this story played on The Olympian's front page -- right at the top!

Stupid stunt exposed, big-time. Morans.

[dutchdemocrat]

17. Somebody screwed up big time

And they got caught. There was some DU'ers working on this earlier. I don't have search capability, it would be interesting to revive that thread. Can anyone find it?

R

[Newsjock]

18. I posted the story yesterday ...

... when it moved on our wire at work. But it never got to anybody's website before my update limit timed out. This is that story.

[retyred]

16. I think we need to send this to the candidates

this will make great ammo against the bush war spin machine at every campaign stop and press conference. I've sent this off to the Clark campaign and urge others to do the same.

I told my wife months ago that I thought things like this were happening and unless notes were compared no one would know, my thought is that they may be doing something similar to the war dead with seperate letters to x-number of parents all saying your son/daughter was among the reported x-number killed today.

There have been stories of rooms full of body bags in both Afghanistan and Iraq supposedly waiting to be sent home with conflicting numbers of dead.



CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
"I'm going to give them the TRUTH and they'll THINK it's hell."
So I Built This Web Site
Read The Book

[Dr Fate]

24. Inform your candidate that Bush is exploiting troops...

email this to your candidate of choice...

[morebunk]

19. Gotta keep this in the limelight.

kicking.

[jarab]

20. kick !!

....O...

[opihimoimoi]

21. Its all part of the PUBs Psyops Campaign to brainwash Americans

for MIND CONTROL.

This reveals how far the Pubs will go to win.

They are so afraid of LOSING that when the scores shows the a loss coming up, they resort to CHEATING, LYING, and STEALING.

Goering woulda been proud of this crop of Pubs.

[Kamika]

22. Anyone know how the freepers reacted?

THey blaming this on Clinton yet?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. i fired this article off to the WH with this note...yikes...i can't unsend

also sent cc's to members of Congress

Dear Mr. Bush*,

You need to fire your advisors and PR firm immediately. They are making you out to look either like a complete incompetent fool or else like you are evil. Please read the attached article below and you tell me?

Sincerely,
my name


Many soldiers, same letter
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq

LEDYARD KING GANNETT NEWS SERVICE The Olympian Online



WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours.
And all the letters are the same.

A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash.

The Olympian received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Spc. Alex Marois, who is now a sergeant. The paper declined to run either because of a policy not to publish form letters.

The five-paragraph letter talks about the soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments, and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where the unit is based.

"The quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restored, and we are a large part of why that has happened," the letter reads.

It describes people waving at passing troops and children running up to shake their hands and say thank you.

It's not clear who wrote the letter or organized sending it to soldiers' hometown papers.

Six soldiers reached by GNS directly or through their families said they agreed with the letter's thrust. But none of the soldiers said he wrote it, and one said he didn't even sign it.

Marois, 23, told his family he signed the letter, said Moya Marois, his stepmother. But she said he was puzzled why it was sent to the newspaper in Olympia. He attended high school in Olympia but no longer considers the city home, she said. Moya Marois and Alex's father, Les, now live near Kooskia, Idaho.

more at @ below:
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390.shtml

[tom_paine]

25. Keep this KICKED

:kick: :kick:

More proof we are drifitng gradually (and sometimes not-so-gradually) into Orwellian-Soviet-Nazi-Fredinand-Marcos-up-is-down-war-is-peace-freedom-is-slavery madness.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

26. kick

[Bozita]

27. a well deserved kick