3rd Infantry Division's press office MAKING UP quotes for Iraq statements

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

A cut-and-paste job in Iraq

On July 13, as on just about every day in Iraq, a car bomb exploded near Baghdad, killing several Iraqi children. A statement put out by the 3rd Infantry Division's press office described how an anonymous Iraqi man said he felt about the attack: "The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq," the man was quoted as saying. "They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists."

Then, a little more than a week later, on July 24, a car bomb exploded at a police station in Baghdad, killing more than 25 Iraqis. Again, the 3rd Infantry Division's press office put out a statement condemning the attack. And again, an anonymous Iraqi man had harsh words for the attackers: "The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists."

Who is this angry, eloquent, very consistent Iraqi man? As it happens, he's a fiction. When reporters who'd been given the second statement pointed out the similarities to the military, the 3rd Infantry Division removed the quote from the press release, explaining that it had made an "administrative error." It promised to investigate the matter.

Of course, accidents happen, but considering that the two quotes are similar but not identical -- one notes that the victims are children, and the other says they're police -- it's difficult to see how such an error might have occurred entirely innocently. And forgive us if we note, too, the propaganda value of the quote: an Iraqi man angrily responding to yet another devastating car bomb by vowing to "take the fight to the terrorists" -- just like George W. Bush says we should do! -- sure looks designed to ease the public's flagging confidence in the mission.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html

[ironman202]

1. Oh, I'm so shocked and scandalized!

the army lied? No, it cannot be so.

[jimshoes]

2. Just wondering if the grateful Iraqi's

have erected any statues of dubya in Baghdad yet? I remember reading that somewhere around the time of the mission accomplished speech. Or I might have dreamed it. It's hard to tell any more.

[evolved Anarchopunk]

3. "TEAM AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!"

If you'll notice (and i'm sure you smart DU's have already) this wasn't just cut and pasted. The part regarding children and the phrasing is changed. This isn't just some overzealous new staffer at the press office taking a quote and transplanting it, this is just sick sick sick manipulation. Remember back if you would when the Army's infantry division also got caught red-handed changing/editing soldiers' letters to their family, injecting (and i use that word with dripping disdain) propaganda about how "things are really looking up here. Roads are blah blah blah. Schools are blah blah blah.. People here don't identify with terrorists blah blah woof woof." Remember that, or is that buried under all the other shit we haven't crapped out of our uniformed press corp?

Did that story ever see the light of day. no. and neither will this.

As they say in the new Army commercial played nearly nonstop on BET "IT's time for me to be a MAN mom!!!" :puke:

[Jecks]

4. HA HA

Typical.....propoganda....gotta love it.

[BrotherBuzz]

5. Those letters weren't written to families...

they were part of an astroturf LTTE scam...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1011-08.htm

Published on Saturday, October 11, 2003 by The Olympian (Olympia, Washington)

Newspapers Around US Get Identical Missives from Iraq

by Ledyard King, Gannett News Service

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.

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And here's a column written by one of our fellow DUers (a good read)

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2003/10/17/editorial/rich_lewis/lewis01.txt


Faked letters typify approach to war

By Rich Lewis, October 16, 2003

I am well past the point of being surprised at government dishonesty. Almost every president in my lifetime has lied outright about matters large (Johnson, Nixon, Reagan) or small (Clinton).

Still, the present administration's disregard for the truth is astonishing.

The latest incident is especially infuriating to an old newsman like me.

I learned this week that newspapers across the country had received 500 letters praising the success of the American occupation of Iraq. Every letter was signed by a different soldier.

The problem is that every letter was exactly the same.

The reason, of course, is that the soldiers did not write the letters and some didn't know their names had been affixed to them.

The letters - or letter, since there was actually only one - was written by the staff of Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo, whose infantry battalion is stationed in Kirkuk. Carracilo personally edited the "message" and then gave it to the soldiers to send home.

But even that makes it sound far too legitimate.

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[pgh_dem]

6. "I loved it...it was much better than Cats...I'm going to see it again

and again..."