NYT Editorial, today Wed Oct 15, 2003:
Fighting the War at
Home
Letters home from the war front are
some of the revered aspects of history, a treasury of soldiers' impressions and
firsthand narratives that hold a value apart from the individual lives put
firmly on the battle line. It's all the more disturbing, then, that an
apparently orchestrated campaign of letter writing has arisen among some of the
American forces in Iraq to highlight what are alleged to be overlooked success
stories. What amounts to a warmly worded form letter telling of open-armed
welcomes and rebuilt infrastructure was printed by hometown newspapers in the
mistaken belief that it was the individual composition of the undersigned
soldier in Kirkuk, a relatively peaceful city in Iraq. According to the Gannett
News Service, which uncovered the deception, one soldier said his sergeant had
distributed the letters to the squad, while another traced his to an Army
public affairs officer.
The susceptibility of local editors to the letter, in which
each Private Everyman describes Iraqi children "in their broken English
shouting, `Thank you, Mister,' " is understandable. But the misleading
letter, uncovered by Gannett after it was published in 11 newspapers, coincides
with the Bush administration's renewed program of defending the war in an
ambitious speaking campaign across the nation. With polls registering rising
public doubts, the president and his aides are claiming that the news media
unfairly play up negative developments and ignore progress in Iraq.
The Pentagon denies that there is any sanctioned propaganda
drive behind the five-paragraph letter, but one soldier told of speaking to a
public affairs officer about what he thought would be a news release, then
being surprised to hear he was being presented as a letter writer whose words
had been published in a newspaper back home.
Firm endorsements of the letter's description of the
situation in Kirkuk have since been re-registered by most of the soldiers who
were supposed to have written letters, but that matters little to anyone who
ever marched in the military command system. The Pentagon should nip the
form-letter barrage and make sure it is not repeated, if only because it is so counterproductive. Fakery
is the worst possible way to answer the public's rising demand for information about the true state of affairs in Iraq.
Thomas wrote: All very well as an apology. Now if I could just reconcile
the coincidence of Bush starting a media campaign to say how great the boys are
doing and these 5000 letters from the leader of an 800 man battalion - I might
accept the "done in good faith," explanation.
KWC wrote: Yin and Yang. Id like to forward you the follow-up on the form letters from soldiers in Iraq story.
Officer was the one behind 500 letters
By Ledyard King, Gannett News Service @
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-10-14-letters-usat_x.htm
WASHINGTON An Army battalion
commander has taken responsibility for a public-relations campaign that sent
hundreds of identical letters to hometown newspapers promoting his soldiers
rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo said he wanted to
highlight his unit's work and "share that pride with people back
home."
Army officials revealed Tuesday that
500 identical form letters were sent to newspapers across the country with
different signatures. They said the mass mailing was the wrong way of getting
the message out, but they didn't know whether the commander would be
disciplined. "It sounded like a good idea at their level, (but) it's
just not the way to do business. They're not going to do that again," said
Lt. Col. Bill MacDonald, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, which is
leading operations in north-central Iraq.
Caraccilo heads the 2nd Battalion of
the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, a paratroop unit normally based in Italy
with roughly 800 soldiers. The battalion has spent the past few months in the
north-central Iraq city of Kirkuk restoring basic services. Amid the daily headlines of bloodshed and unrest in Iraq,
Caraccilo wanted to draw attention to the work of his troops by mailing a form
letter to soldiers' hometowns.
"The quality of life and security
for the citizens has been largely restored, and we are a large part of why that
has happened," reads the five-paragraph, typed letter sent in late summer.
MacDonald said no one was forced to
sign the letter, though most did. At least one soldier contacted by Gannett
News Service said he never signed the letter that appeared in his hometown
newspaper in Charleston, W.Va. Several parents also said they knew their sons
had not written the letters that appeared in local newspapers. The letter
appeared in at least a dozen newspapers, according to a Gannett News Service
search.
Caraccilo said he meant no harm. "The letter was purely an effort made by soldiers of the
2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry to afford our soldiers an opportunity to let
their respective hometowns know what they are accomplishing here in
Kirkuk," he wrote in an e-mail to the 4th Infantry Division public affairs
office. Attempts to reach Caraccilo directly were unsuccessful.
"As you might expect, they are
working at an extremely fast pace, and getting the good news back home is not
always easy," he continued in the e-mail. "We thought it would be a
good idea to encapsulate what we as a battalion have accomplished since
arriving in Iraq and share that pride with people back home."
Military officials said they were
unaware of any plans to discipline Caraccilo. They
said his intentions were honorable.
News of the letter-writing campaign
emerged over the weekend as President Bush and other administration officials
were conducting their own campaign to emphasize successes in Iraq. Polls have
shown American public opinion on the mission souring. White House
spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that he didn't have details of the
letter-writing campaign and referred questions to military commanders.
"The intention was good, but the delivery system was probably not a good way to do it,
because of misperceptions that could be taken," MacDonald said. "You
don't want anybody out there saying I never saw that letter."
Contributing: Judy
Keen
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