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

The Olympian ^ | Ledyard King

[Ace Correspondent]

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.

[Ace Correspondent]

FYI

[Support Free Republic]

"Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our
wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions,
they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
- John Adams -

Make your statement.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Seems likely this was a form letter soldiers were encouraged to sign if they agreed, as part of a PR campaign to counter the drumbeat of negative press back home.

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Courtesy of http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/999590/posts, post 14:

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http://instapundit.com/

UPDATE: My mistake -- it seems that the letter isn't bogus after all. Michael Ubaldi emails:


The article needs about five reads. What seems to have happened is that somebody wrote a letter and asked his buddies to sign it; most of them did. Note that every soldier agrees with the depiction - they should, they signed onto it - and only one guy doesn't remember giving his permission.

All other soldiers quoted as knowing nothing about it are brass - which means little. The only other relevant information is that one of the authorized letters was sent to the wrong place - and that's only according to his anti-war stepmother.

There's a slightly different version of the story in Tulare, which lacks the northwest mixup: Link.

This stinks of nonstory dolled up into anti-war hit.


Sounds like I fell for it. My apologies. Reader Steve Koch emails:


My nephew is in the unit that the form (not bogus) letters were sent from. (I have no reason to believe that he was involved in any way.) They did, in fact parachute from jumbo jets (c-17s). Google "c-17 173rd" and you can read all you want about it and see photos.

You really did them (and us all) a disservice when you concluded:

> Whoever's behind this should be appropriately punished, either way.

The article that you linked to made it pretty clear that it was a form letter that soldiers were being encouraged to send to counter the negative portrayals in the media. They are understandably frustrated that the progess they are making is being ignored. Of course, the wisdom of their approach is questionable, and nobody should have sent a letter with somebody else's name on it.


Nobody, obviously, should be punished for sending non-bogus letters, and that's what this appears to be. Sorry I was fooled by the article in The Olympian -- I should have been more skeptical. (And I never thought of a C-17 as "jumbo jet," but here's a story that backs up the claim. And Donald Sensing has comments, too.)

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[UB355]

When the left sends out their mass mailings it's reported as a groundswell movement.

[Ace Correspondent]

I was confused as to who you were addressing but I see now that it all came from Instapundit, the other link did not work.

[Ace Correspondent]

When the left sends out their mass mailings it's reported as a groundswell movement

The US army should not be treated or viewed as either the Left or the Right.

[jess35]

When the left sends out their mass mailings it's reported as a groundswell movement

If this had been an anti-war letter, the Olympian would never have printed that story. The contents of the letters were accurate but they're trying to portray it as false.

[huck von finn]

Who did this? I think it's terrible to use our soldiers' names when they don't even know about it.

[TADSLOS]

I suspect that this is the result of pressure put on commanders by CENTCOM to meet a hometown news release quota (nothing new about that). Someone in the chain of command or a staff officer tired of getting his butt chewed on for not meeting theirs decided to meet the requirement as efficiently as possible and came up with a form letter without thinking through the potential effect this technique would have. It really isn't sinister, but the libs and the media (one and the same) will make it out to be, of course.

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[As i mentioned, the B/C & JD! lists are going to float into and out of whack over the forseeable future, while I try to cobble a rig back together for myself. My apologies for any incovenience or misunderstandings in this time frame. New signups/removals may be flaky in this time-frame as well; please bear with me, and keep in mind you may have to FReepmail me more than once for me to get it done. Thanks again!]

[alpowolf]

If this "form letter" were on the up-and-up, I think the troops would have signed it together--as a unit--and sent it in that way.

If this is how the military is communicating with the folks back home, it has radically changed since I was in. Or perhaps their "leadership" is what has changed.