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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (29984)	10/12/2003 12:51:24 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 89467

You reminded me that I'd seen something about phony letters. It seems the WH will stop at nothing. I looked to find this: PHONY LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS IN IRAQ?: This is one of the most disgusting things I've seen in a while. I was tipped off by the folks at American Politics Journal about the appalling possibility that someone wrote a letter about how wonderful things are in Iraq, near Kirkuk, and signed several soldiers' names to the letter without them approving it, or their knowledge. counterspin.blogspot.com Turns out the astroturf letter part, at least, is true. Someone is sending the exact same letter to different newspapers across the country...only each letter is "signed" by a different soldier living in that paper's area of circulation. A blatant propaganda ploy. To see for yourself, do the following: 1) Do a google search for the phrase: "I have been serving in Iraq for over five months now" 2) This unit is serving near Kirkuk...the heart of Kurdish territory in Iraq. It would be unsurprising if the local population were very pleased to have U.S. troops there. Ironically, however, at least one of the soldiers who "signed" the letter [See him listed below] was injured in a booby-trap bomb explosion just recently. I haven't found a supposed Gannett News service story about the apparent fraud. Supposedly the reporter interviewed a number of the soldiers who "wrote" the letters, and finds that none of them actually signed it. Also, at least one of them had no clue that it had even been sent out in his name! Here are the names of soldiers that ave been used so far: 1. Spc. Nathan Whitelatch. 2. Sgt. Shawn M. Grueser. 3. Pfc. David Deaconson. Deaconson is the one who was injured in the explosion. 4. Pfc. Jason Marshall. 5. Sgt. 1st Class Edwin Gargas Jr. And... 6. Sgt. Chris Shelton. When and if I find a link to the actual Gannett News Service story by Ledyard King, I'll post it. In the meantime, I suggest folks e-mail this link to all of the newspapers victimized by the scam, in the hope that they will note it. UPDATE: I found another one...from Pfc. Adam C. Connell. This one seems to be the original letter, sent home to his mother. It was then used by someone who affixed the names of other soldiers in the unit, and then sent it to their hometown papers. At least that's my working theory. This letter was published on September 14, 2003. The other letters seem to be much more recent. ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh well, you can forget that theory. I was informed that there's another letter, not available online, that was published on September 16, 2003 from the almost myhtically-named SPC. Myron Tuttle published in the Tulare Advance-Register. FINAL UPDATE: Yes! The scam is confirmed! Here's the Gannett News Service article, published in the Olympian. "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. ****

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (29984)	10/12/2003 12:54:32 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

And, Lizzie, from Veterans for Common Sense just now, I found the DOD is behind it: DoD Propaganda Efforts Exposed Ledyard King The Olympian, Olympia Washington theolympian.com Posted 10/11/2003 October 11, 2003, Summary: Identical letters from US soldiers serving in Iraq are appearing in US newspapers. Clearly, there is an orchestrated effort to show the soldiers ares supporting President George Bush's occupation of Iraq. However, if the soldiers are being ordered to write the letters from the war zone, this raises serious questions about the abuse of command authority. Following the article below is an e-mail documenting how some officers in the military are orchestrating the publication of pro-war letters. Congress and the press need to investigate this scandal more thoroughly ... www.veteransforcommonsense.org