Phony soldiers' letters from Irag

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

On this anniversary week of Sprio T. Agnew's resignation as veep, the current inmates of the White House provide proof that cynicism and contempt for the intelligence of the American public remain central to the Republican Party's philosophy.

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Iraq GIs' letters to newspapers turn out to be identical
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Ledyard King
Gannett News Service
Oct. 12, 2003 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country.
And all of 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.
The five-paragraph form 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.
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.
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. A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the newspaper in Beckley, W.Va.
"When I told him he wrote such a good letter, he said, 'What letter?' " Timothy Deaconson said Friday, recalling the phone conversation he had with his son, Nick.
Sgt. Christopher Shelton, who signed a letter that ran in the Snohomish, Wash., paper, said Friday that his platoon sergeant had distributed the letter and asked soldiers for the names of their hometown newspapers.
Soldiers were asked to sign the letter if they agreed with it, said Shelton, whose shoulder was wounded during an ambush earlier this year.
"Everything it said is dead accurate. We've done a really good job," he said by phone from Italy.
Sgt. Todd Oliver, a spokesman for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which counts the 503rd as one of its units, said he was told a soldier wrote the letter, but he didn't know who.

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U.S. Soldiers Signed Letters They Did Not Write Praising Iraqi War Effort
By Staff and Wire Reports
Oct 11, 2003, 18:30


Identical letters claiming to be from different U.S. soldiers describing successes in Iraq were sent to newspapers around the country and soldiers whose names appeared on those letters admit they did not write them_and some say they were ordered by their superiors to sign their names.

Identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment have appeared in 11 newspapers so far and have been sent to many more, a check with newspaper editors around the country reveals.

In Olympia, Washington, The Olympian newspaper received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Sgt. Alex Marois. The paper decided not to run either after discovering they were form letters.

The five-paragraph letter_tells glowing stories_about 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.

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

"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.

Six soldiers reached by Gannett News Service_directly or through their families_admitted they did not_write the leters.__One said he didn't even sign the letter that bore his name.

Marois, 23, told his family he signed the letter,_but Moya Marois, his stepmother. 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.

A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va.

"When I told him he wrote such a good letter, he said: 'What letter?' " Timothy Deaconson said Friday, recalling the phone conversation he had with his son, Nick. "This is just not his (writing) style."

He spoke to his son, Pfc. Nick Deaconson, at a hospital where he was recovering from a grenade explosion that left shrapnel in both his legs.

One soldier, who asked not to be identified, said he was reluctant to sign the letter because he did not agree with_the comments in the letter but said he was ordered by a_superior officer to sign.

"When I'm given an order, I obey it," he said._

Sgt. Christopher Shelton, who signed a letter that ran in the Snohomish Herald, said Friday that his platoon sergeant had distributed the letter and asked soldiers for the names of their hometown newspapers. Soldiers were_them told to sign the letter.

Sgt. Todd Oliver, a spokesman for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which counts the 503rd as one of its units, said he was told a soldier wrote the letter, but he didn't know who. He claimed the brigade's public affairs unit was not involved.

"When he asked other soldiers in his unit to sign it, they did," Oliver explained in an e-mail response. "Someone, somewhere along the way, took it upon themselves to mail it to the various editors of newspapers across the country."

Lt. Col. Bill MacDonald, a spokesman for the 4th infantry Division that is heading operations in north-central Iraq, said he had not heard about the letter-writing campaign.

Neither had Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

A recent poll suggests that Americans are increasingly skeptical of America's prolonged involvement in Iraq. A USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll released Sept. 23 found 50 percent believe that the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over, down from 73 percent in April.

A New York Times-CBS Poll is even more bleak, showing 48 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the administration is handling the war in Iraq and 53 percent saying the war was not worth either the cost or the loss of lives.

The letter talks about the soldiers' mission, saying, "one thousand of my fellow soldiers and I parachuted from ten jumbo jets." It describes Kirkuk as "a hot and dusty city of just over a million people." It tells about the progress they have made.

"The fruits of all our soldiers' efforts are clearly visible in the streets of Kirkuk today. There is very little trash in the streets, many more people in the markets and shops, and children have returned to school," the letter reads. "I am proud of the work we are doing here in Iraq and I hope all of your readers are as well."

Sgt. Shawn Grueser of Poca, W.Va., said he spoke to a military public affairs officer whose name he couldn't remember about his accomplishments in Iraq for what he thought was a news release to be sent to his hometown paper in Charleston, W.Va. But the 2nd Battalion soldier said he did not sign any letter.

Although Grueser said he was uncomfortable that a letter with his signature did not contain his own words or spell out his own accomplishments.

"It makes it look like you cheated on a test, and everybody got the same grade," Grueser said by phone from a base in Italy where he had just arrived from Iraq.

Moya Marois said she is proud of her stepson Alex, the former Olympia resident. But she worries that the letter tries to give legitimacy to a war she doesn't think was justified.

"We're going to support our son," she said. But "there are a lot of Americans that are not in support of this war that would like to see them returned home, and think it's going to get worse."

A Pentagon spokesman refused to comment directly on the letter when contacted Saturday but said the military is "looking into the matter."_

(Portions of a report from Ledyard King, Gannett News Service were used in this story and are Copyright 2003 by GNS)
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© Copyright 2003 by Capitol Hill Blue

[Ron Thorne]

Pathetic, but sadly, predictable.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Surely some reporter or congressman is going figure out where the orders for this came from! Was this part of the White House spin campaign? Or did it originate with a company PR officer, trying to score points by showing he was paying attention to the current spin?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

The batallion commander did it. I'm curious to see if he receives a reprimand or is promoted.

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Letters Home
Soldiers’s Glowing Accounts of Success in Iraq Success Were Written by Commander

By Martha Raddatz

Oct. 13 — The letters appeared in roughly 12 newspapers across the country. From Massachusetts to California, and many places in between, family members and local newspapers received letters from soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment detailing their successes in northern Iraq.

Each letter was signed by a different soldier, but the words were identical:


"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. Children smile and run up to shake hands and in their broken English shouting, "Thank you, Mister."

Amy Connell, of Sharon, Mass., knew as soon as she received the letter from her son Adam that he did not write it. "He's 20 years old and I don't think his language or his writing ability would have entailed that kind of description," she said.

She was right. Her son didn't write the letter. In an e-mail to ABCNEWS today, the commander of the battalion, Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo, said the "letter-writing initiative" was all his idea.

Caraccilo said he circulated the form letter to his soldiers to give them "an opportunity to let their respective hometowns know what they are accomplishing here in Kirkuk. As you might expect, they are working at an extremely fast pace and getting the good news back home is not always easy. We thought it would be a good idea to encapsulate what we as a battalion have accomplished since arriving Iraq and share that pride with people back home."

Caraccilo wrote that his staff drafted the letter, he edited it and reviewed it and then offered it to the soldiers. "Every soldier who signed that letter did so after a careful read," he said. "Some, who could find the time, decided to send their own versions, while others chose not to take part in the initiative."

Caraccilo was unapologetic, saying that the letter "perfectly reflects what each of these brave soldiers has and continues to accomplish on the ground."

"With the current and ongoing media focus on casualties and terrorist attacks, we thought it equally important to share with the American public, and especially the folks from our soldier's hometowns, the good news associated with our work in Kirkuk," Caraccilo added.

Indeed, Kirkuk has seen improvement over the past several months, and is far less violent than other areas of Iraq.

Amy Connell had no problem sending the letter to her local paper, The Boston Globe, even though she knew her son hadn't written it.

"I thought the letter was a good representation of what they are doing over there in Kirkuk," she said. "It just showed the positive aspect that is coming out of the war, and what they, our soldiers, are doing over there for the Iraqi people."

But The Boston Globe wasn't happy to learn about the origin of the letter. An editor at the Globe told ABCNEWS that it was "a big disappointment."

"Our readers have a right to expect letters that are originals," he said. _

[Gary Sisco]

What bullshit. I'd have told him where to publish his letter ... up his ass. Sir!

These nitwits can't grasp that the internet has changed everything so far's communications go. The government under Reagan got away with exactly the same practice, several times, during Reagan's terrorist campaign in Nicaragua, but in those days, hardly anyone would know about it, because of the localness of the papers and geographic distance of people from each other, so they could notice such things. With the internet, things can fly around all over the world in seconds. They're going to have to work harder to make bullshit smell sweet in the era of instant global communications.