Fake soldier letters in US newspapers (all Bush's propaganda)

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j101303.html

October 13, 2003

FAKE 'GOOD NEWS' FROM IRAQ
War Party using the troops for propaganda
by Justin Raimondo

The lying cretins who gave us the Iraq war aren't content that our soldiers are sitting ducks for terrorists throughout the Middle East – now they're using them as props in a propaganda campaign designed to convince the American people that "progress" is being made. As the Olympianreports:

"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."

Just a few minutes of googling brings forth at least two identical letters attributed to twodifferent soldiers: Oh, and here's another. Gannett News counts at least 11. Capitol Hill Bluereports "some say they were ordered by their superiors to sign their names."

According to the phony letter, everything is hunky-dory over in "liberated" Iraq:

"Kirkuk is a hot and dusty city of just over a million people. The majority of the city has welcomed our presence with open arms. After nearly five months here, the people still come running from their homes into the 110-degree heat, waving to us as our troops drive by on daily patrols of the city. "

It figures that these fake letters appeared in newspapers just as relatively trouble-free Kirkuk appears to be goingoff the deepend, along with the entire northern part of the country. Is this the kind of war propaganda we're paying for? I demand a congressional investigation! Why don't they hire Glenn Reynolds – if they already haven't, that is. Here is the Pontifcating Professor as he tries to explain that the bogus letter isn't a bogus letter, you see, because it's a "form letter." Only a law professor could argue that so labeling it ameliorates the essential fraud of misrepresenting both the author and his intent.

Clearly, those who did agree to sign (when asked to do so by their military superiors) had no idea that their names would soon be in print. When one proud father congratulated his son on getting a letter published in the local newspaper, the soldier said: "What letter?"

MORE.....

[Imalittleteapot]

1. Story also at Yahoo

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&e=4&u=/afp/iraq_us_letters

Please rate.

[Nashyra]

2. On MSNBC this morning

just after 6:00 am west coast there was a rather long piece about this, they had a man on from Gannett news service, I think that is USA Today. Nobody really threw any bombs, however they were very skeptical about the orgins of letters. All in all if you were not an informed viewer you would come away with the definite opinion that something was not right. It gave the appearance of manipulation, not a good peice for the * as much as they tried not to point fingers at the administration.

[berry]

6. By noon, the MSNBC reporting on these letters has sunk to

'what a mysterious thing!' They mentioned the 11 identical letters, and then wondered aloud how that could happen. End of item.

I suppose it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if some soldier had written a letter and his pals had said 'wow--can I copy that and send it off to my own hometown newspaper?' (Assuming they don't even know the concept of plagiarism...) But how likely is this? About 0% probably. So the media can't quite spell out this rosy scenario. They CAN and do suggest it, though. If they cared to, they could get the information that would prove that this is part of a clumsy PR campaign. But noooo.

I've read somewhere recently that the GOP is targeting small-town press because it reaches people that no other media does. I suspect that the PR guys didn't worry about how these letters would look because they thought they were working far under the radar. I'm glad they were caught out--even if the story fizzles soon.

[Bunny]

10. The weirder part is that the soldiers whose names are

on the letters have no recollection of sending them. If one guy wrote a brilliant letter and the rest wanted to copy it and send it to their papers, that would be one thing.

But apparently no one who is actually in this unit wrote the letter in the first place. So then, who DID write it?

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Just a coincidence

Any speculation that it could be anything but several soldies coincidentally deciding to write identical letters telling the truth about how well the Crusade is going is anti-American tinfoil hat conspiracy theory hogwash.

[GiovanniC]

4. Also on Top 10 List today n/t

[wtmusic]

5. The scary thing about this

is that our propaganda is so shoddy. They couldn't take the time to write different letters, or at least change them up a little?

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. Why bother, since the public doesn't really care?

The only indignance and outrage I have seen about this is on this site.

In meatspace, Americans who noticed the letters just think it's terrific to hear how well things are going from the troops themselves!

[spooked]

13. WHAT IF this is actually a CIA operation to make BUSH LOOK BAD!?

With the incredible ability of the Internet, any person involved in propaganda or psyops of this nature would know that they could not get away with this letter writing scheme....

SO, WHAT IF SOMEONE AT THE CIA sent these identical letters on purpose, knowing it would eventaully be discovered, and make Bush look bad!? We all know the CIA is very unhappy with B*sh right now.

[Bandit]

19. I have a hunch it will be too easy to backtrack on this and CIA isn't

Like the Bush* Administration. They do covert things but not stupid things.

[RobertSeattle]

8. Isn't impersonating and NCO or Officer a Felony?

And I think a LTE is certainly a impersonation.

[leftchick]

9. saw a report on CNN this AM about it

at least it seems to be making the rounds on the tv "news"

[AnnabelLee]

11. protect freedom impeach bush now

Per DU copyright rules, please do not post more than four paragraphs of copyrighted material.

Thank you
AnnabelLee
DU Moderator

[GiovanniC]

12. The Person Who Wrote It Apparently Doesn't Care

j/k

:evilgrin:

[GiovanniC]

20. The Person Who Wrote The Letter, Not the Post n/t

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

14. time expired

no can do

[BigBigBigBear]

15. The WH

did this exact same thing ealier this year with the economic stimulus package.

"When it comes to the economy,President Bush is showing real leadership..."

It's called astro-turfing. But it's definitely low to use military personnel for a PR campaign.

[Adjoran]

16. I saw a report this morning

in which a Sgt. with the unit in question said he had written the letter, and offered it to others in the unit. He said no one was forced to sign or send it to their hometown papers, and he didn't know who or how many had done so.

I don't know if it is true or not, it's just what I read. I'll try and find the link again and post it later.

[rocktivity]

17. This has been done this before

at least eight times:
http://www.failureisimpossible.com/dosomething/sod.htm

Don't these cretins realize that this is THE INTERNET??? Don't they realize that people can now read newspaper articles from all over the GLOBE--never mind the U.S--as easily as they can pick up the Sunday funnies? They haven't figured out yet that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AWAY WITH THIS?


rocknation

[Paxton_Free]

18. Good God.

This is huge. It really is. I hope someone makes a big deal out of this.

[PATRICK]

21. public allowed little outrage

the spin and the "checking" the media are doing is whether the CONTENT of the rosy propaganda is true. Most soldiers are reported as saying yes and all is hunky dory, which alleviates the crime and dismisses the reality of Iraq. So how can we trust what the soldiers publicly say when interviewed? How much are they in the dark in their safer territories?

Who put out this program of deception? I am sure the news wires realize that dupe letters are against most newspapers policies and why that is. That little education is not given to the general public.

Shameless incomplete and slanted reporting at its best. You can't buy better, whether they had to or not. In fact, the slant tends to give some legitimacy to another undermining of democracy and truth.