This aggression shall not stand! Defeat Propaganda!

[Hubert Flottz]

My Letter to the Charleston Daily Mail:

'The Rock' does fine in Kirkuk


This is a form letter from Bush Propagandists and it my turn out to make your newspaper look very foolish! Trying to sell a war based on outright lies is unpatriotic! This exact letter is being published in newspapers all over the country! In each different town the name of the soldier is different but the letter is an exact dupe! Some of the soldiers whose names are attached to these letters did not know their names were even used!

Your paper has been duped by Bush's newest all-out campaign to sell this war to the public! Bush sees the writing on the wall reflected in the newest polls! The public is turning against Bush and his trumped up reasons for invading Iraq! The Public is turning against the war because of the huge cost in Money and American BLOOD!

I always respected your paper and when I was in the service in 1970-71 stationed overseas, my Dad sent me the Daily Mail every day! Now I see this kind of trash in your paper and I feel you are a part of this deception! I hope you were duped by whomever sent you this form letter and are not a part of the right wing propaganda machine on purpose! I expect things like this out of Fox, but not my hometown paper!

I will be pointing out your story to Robert Byrd and sending him links to every newspaper that is printing this letter! No wonder people believe in conspiracies!

Mr. H L Flottz

Letter from Charleston Daily Mail:

Mr. Flottz -
Thank you for your comments regarding our use of a letter to the editor that did not come from the person signed at the bottom. I assure you, we make every effort to confirm letters to the editor and did so in this case as well. Unfortunately, our best efforts didn't keep us from making this mistake.

Please know that the fact that the letter appeared has nothing to do with support or opposition to the war. As best we can tell, we were the first newspaper to run the letter, so we had no way of knowing about the rash of them that later appeared. We are running an item in today's newspaper about the situation.

Thank you again for your comments.
Sincerely,
Chris Stadelman
Managing Editor

[opihimoimoi]

1. Isn't it a shame, appalling really, that the Pubs would stoop this LOW??

Was LIE CHEAT STEAL mentioned during the Pubs description?

But then, if we let evil prevail over goodness, we are the fools and they win.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. The Repub press is trying to act like Bush had nothing to do .....

with these letters, but It's funny how they turned up right when Bush started his full blown PR campaign to make the Oil War smell better! Gawd works in mysterious ways I reckon!

Smells Like KKKarl is at it again behind the scene!

Come, we go get a 'Mad' to find out the real news!

[teryang]

2. I missed it

I am interested in the contents of the form letter.

[Mel]

4. Have you seen this thread in GD?

It's chock full of information the same officer responsible for the letters was involved in "finding" WMD back in April.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=532081

A big Shout Out to IndianaGreen, who posted the above link that's how I found it
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=166715

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Thanks to those other threads for the heads up on the letters!

The other threads here got me started writing the letter to the news-?-paper, because I found a link to my hometown paper on the one thread here! It was the very letter that was supposedly written by a soldier here in town! That soldier said that, he'd never even seen the letter that was printed in the paper before, and he said he didn't sign it or send it!

Looks like Rummy's New "Department Of Misinformation", is up and running at the Pentagon!

[T Bone]

6. They couldn't confirm the sender so they RAN IT anyway, oh yeah

Now would they be so quick to rush and run an anti-war letter whose sender's identity and authenticity they COULD NOT CONFIRM. The fact that they were the first one ine in the country to run with it shows they are definitely part of the VRWC.

It was just "so good" they had to go with it without authenticating it's submission. Would never happen with an anti-war letter that they couldn't "authenticate". Never.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. The Truth Wouldn't Be Prudent At This Juncture!

The Funny Papers have taken over the newspapers! I'd believe Li'l Abner before I'd believe the Front Page! If they do correct the mistake about the 'war letter' it will be on page 89 section z, I'd be willing to bet!

[Rose Siding]

8. That's a pretty straight up reply you got

or so it seems. It makes it a little easier when they come clean for screw ups.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. You're right and I kind of feel sorry for the editors!

I'll bet it's hard to write some of the stuff that they know, or suspect is not true, for whatever reason!