"Iraq is wonderful" offensive uses form letter

Boy, lots of soldiers are mailing their hometown newspapers to let the folks back home know how wonderful Bush's War is going. It's just really weird how ever letter looks exactly the same.

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.

The Olympian received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Spc. Alex Marois, who is now a sergeant. The paper declined to run either because of a policy not to publish form letters.

As far as "P.R. Offensives" are concerned, this latest from the Bush Administration is about the clumsiest I've ever seen.

But to be fair, it must be tough arguing things are going splendidly when soldiers continue to die, other soldiers kill themselves at alarming rates (14 in the last seven months), Iraq's governing council is not acting like good colonial subjects, refusing to rubberstamp a Turkish troop deployment in Iraq, Baghdad is looking more and more like the West Bank, we're losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraq people, and those collaborating with the occupation are assassinated.

But the best part of all?

President Bush, annoyed by what he considers the "filter" of news reporting, will seek to go around the press on Monday through television outlets that do not routinely cover the White House.

Translation: Bush hates news that isn't "filtered" by his own merry band of "yes men" (and women). So he'll continue on his merry tour, arguing that white is black, up is down, and that he is a "compassionate conservative".

Posted October 13, 2003 08:35 AM | Comments (62)