A simple story revealing the lack of standards at college newspapers? Perhaps. But the AP provides an interesting epilogue in their recounting of the tale. They avoid detailing the substance of "Kendee's" letters - but imply the hoax was perpetrated as some sort of pro-war propaganda:
The Fake and the Dead
Posted by Greyhawk
The Mudville Gazette
There are two types of Iraq war veterans that have a tremendous appeal to the anti-war crowd - the fictional and the dead. Both types have a common, irresistible trait - others can claim to speak on their behalf.
Dan Kennings is both types. And his daughter Kodee was in a position to become the next Cindy Sheehan.
But...
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CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Word that Sgt. Dan Kennings had been killed in Iraq crushed spirits in the Daily Egyptian newsroom. The stocky, buzz-cut soldier befriended by students at the university newspaper was dead, and the sergeant's little girl--a precocious, blond-haired child they'd grown to love--was now an orphan.
They all knew that Kodee Kennings' mother had died when Kodee was about 5. The little girl's fears and frustrations about her father being in harm's way had played out on the pages of the Daily Egyptian for nearly two years, in gut-wrenching letters fraught with misspellings, innocent observations and questions about why Daddy wasn't there to chase the monsters from under her bed.
It turns out Daddy didn't exist. And neither did Kodee.
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There are elements to the story that would reveal it as an obvious fake to anyone remotely familiar with the US military or the war in Iraq, but apparently few folks at Southern Illinois University qualify in that regard. The fictional Kennings was stationed in Mosul, Iraq, with the 101st Airborne Division, and apparently had been since the war began. He was only able to phone home and speak with his daughter on rare occasions, because calls from Iraq cost him $2 a minute.
Both of these claims are obviously false to anyone who's either "been there" or has been paying attention to those who are. But this sort of stuff is taken at face value by the same anti-war crowd that insists the media isn't telling them the "real truth" about Iraq.
More about "Kennings", from the Southern Illinois Daily Egyptian (kudos to them for admitting the truth and leaving the stories in place with disclaimer):
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Kennings is extremely sensitive compared to the typical American stereotype of soldiers. He is not afraid to cry, does not mind being sentimental and writes poems about his daughter.
All this needs to be hidden from those he fights with, though, at the risk of ridicule. The teddy bear Kodee gave him that said "daddy's girl" is kept out of sight, and Kodee said she understands.
"He keeps it in his bag because the other soldiers might make fun of him," Kodee explained.
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I can't tell you the number of GIs in Iraq who openly carry such gifts from their children - and woe upon anyone who would ridicule them for doing so. But feeding stereotypes is a great way to deceive the willing.
As noted, "Kodee" was in a position to become the next Cindy Sheehan, perhaps an even more powerful "voice for peace" - but our intrepid little heroine was not an anti-war orphan initially...
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To Kodee, Bush is her father's boss and she does not understand why people think he is evil. She has also has a very difficult time understanding the war protesters and has begun to fear them the way most kids fear the boogeyman or monsters.
She calls them "the bad people," and is convinced they are going to come to her house at night to hurt her or camp out on the lawn and make her father not want to come home.
Every night, Matt and Colleen have to check under Kodee's bed and in the closet for "the bad people." They also have to double check to make sure the window is locked and investigate any sound that comes from outside.
Colleen said Kodee routinely wakes up at night screaming, fearful that "the bad people" are going to get her.
"To you and I, it's a crazy thought, but in her mind, it's as real as the telephone you're holding," Colleen said during a phone interview. "The fear is just so real."
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But one day her feelings began to change...
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"I have some good news and I have some bad news," Kennings told his daughter. "Which do you want me to tell you first?"
"I want to hear the good news," Kodee replied.
"The war is over," he said.
Forgetting everything else in the world, Kodee jumped up and down, screaming yay! She was beside her self with joy.
But then came the hard part.
"I still have some bad news," Kennings continued.
"Well, I don't want to hear it," Kodee said.
"Well, I still have to tell you," her father insisted.
"No you don't. I just want to hear good news from you," Kodee replied.
"I really have to tell you," Kennings said.
"No you don't," Kodee repeated.
The two exchanged the same argument a few more times before Kodee gave in. It was at this point Kennings delivered the bombshell.
"I probably won't be home for summer," he said.
Kodee was devastated, even when her father told her the reason he had to stay.
"He said he had to stay and help rebuild the country cause it was all destroyed," Kodee said. "He said he had to build hospitals because otherwise people would die. There is no medicine or doctors."
She wanted to speak to his superior to interrogate him on why her father was being forced to stay. But eventually, she had to accept the news and spent the rest of the day moping around, refusing to engage in two of her favorite past times - going to the park and hitting balls at the batting cages.
"When she heard all that, to be quite honest, she just crumbled into pieces," Colleen said.
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Finally, plucky little Kodee found the true courage to turn against Chimpy McHitlerburton's Oil War:
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As her father's time increases in Iraq, so does Kodee's anger at George W. Bush. She is attempting to raise enough money bring her father home herself -- her most recent money-making plot is to get a job as an officer in the army -- but she is also attempting to petition the U.S. government. Kodee has been inquiring about whether Uncle Sam has a wife so she could plead to "Aunt Sam" to bring her father home. Kodee knows her father is sick of Iraq, and that he has recently seen two of his friends die.
To her, Bush's reasons for the War in Iraq are not good enough for him to take her father away, and she is not afraid to express her disdain for current U.S. policy. It has nothing to do with politics. She wants her father, who is her only living blood relative, back in her life.
The following are her uncensored thoughts on our 43rd president.
Dear Mr. Presadent,
I'm rily mad at you and you make my hart hurt. I don't
think your doing a very good job. You keep sending
soldiers to Iraq and it's not fair.
Do you have a soldier of your own in Irak? Why can't our
soldiers come home? They don't like it over there and
they are sad. They never smile in pickshurs you kno.
Why did you call Ryan (a friend of a friend who is in the
national guard) for duty? It's not fair cant you see? Hes
got a life here and you made his mom cry. Angie (Ryan's
fiancé) cryed to. Why do you want to make pepole cry? I
miss my dad and he misses me. His job is done he says so.
Why can't you send him home? I think your mean and I
don't like you. You shold have a hart.
This letter was written to Kodee's mother, who died when she was 5. She recently made a copy of this letter, put it in a balloon and released it into the heavens in hopes it would reach her mother.
Dear mommy,
I miss you. Did you get your wings yet? I ring lots of
bells. Ive been trying to be good mom. Are you watching
me?
Me and you need to talk mom. Can I see you agin? I got to
explane something. Ryan got called to duty and he has to
go to Iraq. Tell God to fire the Presadent. It's not
fair. Can you wach over him like you woch daddy? Promiss
not to let him die okay mommy.
Daddy says he misses you. Me to. Daddy says your still in
his hart. Mom I love you. When you walk with God today
tell him to make Ryan stay alive. Wach out for rockets
mommy. I love you.
Love, Kodee
Kodee also wrote a letter to her father, who she has seen on television at least once. Normally, her guardians try to keep her away from the news, but she has managed to get around their rules a few times.
Her single greatest complaint about her father's living conditions in Iraq is that he looks dirty and needs a shower.
Dear Daddy,
I miss you and I love you. How are you? Are you still
coming home dad? I'm still here without you.
I saw you on our dreme date you need a shower daddy. Next
time can we go where its snowy. Are you still hot?
Ges what dad I lost a tooth. The tooth farys rates
haven't gone up so I'm holding out. I figyer she'll
evenchly have to give up and give the extra quarter.
We went to pops and we went to a honted harvest house.
Daddy it was scary I didn't like it. I think the content
was macher for me. Hey dad I gug a fox hole. It is
regulashin. It is hooah.
Can I have my rank back now? I've been good. Daddy I love
you. Can you kill all the bad guys now so Air Force One
can bring you home? I love you. Don't die okay dad.
Love, Kodee
By the way - the spelling errors are in the published originals, and part of the fiction behind "Kodee" is that she was home schooled.
But in spite of her pleadings, the ultimate tragedy struck. Kodee's daddy came home in a box:
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On Saturday morning, cars began pulling into the gravel parking lot of a one-story American Legion hall in Orient, Ill., about 30 miles northeast of Carbondale, for a memorial service. Hastings and Kodee got out of a red Pontiac Grand Am, the little girl wearing an Army uniform shirt that hung down to her knees.
People inside the memorial service said both Hastings and Kodee were in tears. A video showed Kennings in his fatigues speaking with a group of children at a church, and there was a scrapbook filled with pictures of Kennings straddling a tank cannon or huddling with other soldiers.
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But even then the story was unravelling.
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A professor in the university's journalism school who was familiar with the Kennings story called the Tribune Aug. 17, and the Tribune had a reporter on the road to Carbondale that night.
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But instead of taking the story to a national level, the Tribune reporters checked one of the widely available list of Soldiers killed in Iraq, and it all began to fall apart.
Read the whole thing here.
chicagotribune.com
Finger pointing, accusations, and counter-accusations are flowing freely now. It looks like it will be a while before the full truth is known - until then we'll refrain from assigning blame. We will note that it's easy to deceive those who so eagerly wish to be deceived.
*****
A simple story revealing the lack of standards at college newspapers? Perhaps. But the AP provides an interesting epilogue in their recounting of the tale. They avoid detailing the substance of "Kendee's" letters - but imply the hoax was perpetrated as some sort of pro-war propaganda:
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Kim Treger, owner of a women's shoe and accessories store, said she followed the story from the start but was not surprised to learn it was fake.
"As long as people dig those sentimental stories and have that yellow-ribbon mentality, there are going to be these hoaxes," she said.
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I think "yellow ribbon mentality" conveys a message that doesn't apply - and I believe that's obvious to anyone who's read this far. Of course, if most stories from the AP include a quote from an "owner of a women's shoe and accessories store" I'll admit that my suspicions as to their motives for including that comment are unfounded.
But it reads to me like a nasty little trick they might have learned in journalism school.
(Hat tip: Florida Cracker)
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