Letters From Iraq

Letters From Iraq

By Stan G. Kain
15 October 2003

Since the earliest days of man's recorded history, soldiers have sent letters home, telling of life on the field of batter.  In the theater of war, the need to stay in touch with family is an essential part of keeping one's focus on reality.  I remember my mother telling about letters my father sent from Iwo Jima during World War II.  Often, military censors, protecting strategic information, would virtually shred the original latter.  The remaining confetti was still reassuring that my father was alive and well.

Times have changed, as we move into the twenty-first century.  We watch battles in real-time from Iraq, compliments of satellite and embedded reporters.  Soldiers deliver lightning fast email to families and even have limited access to cellular telephones.  We're living in a different era of communications.

Recently, the Gannett News Service, owners of several newspapers around the U.S., received letters from American troops in Iraq.  The letters were sent to many of the soldier's hometown newspapers, relating their successes in the desert war.  While U.S. public opinion of the war sours, positive letters from American soldiers are newsworthy.  Gannett News Service was happy to present individual views of the common soldier.  Happy, that is, until alert Gannett editors discovered the letters were all the same.  

How, asked the Gannett staff, is it possible that several soldiers wrote an identical letter, except for the signature and sent their letter to eleven different Gannett newspapers?  Coincidence?  Could it be possible that at least eleven soldiers witnessed the same events, wrote the same letter, word for world, signed it and sent it to their hometown newspaper?  Even if you truly believe that “Miss Cleo” is a genuine psychic, you'd have trouble swallowing that story.

As a responsible news service, Gannett had no alternative but to withhold publication of the letters until they could confirm the source.  The five-paragraph letter related how military efforts are reestablishing police and fire departments and building water and sewer plants in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.  The letter explains that, “one thousand of my fellow soldiers and I parachuted from ten jumbo jets,”  The letter states that Kirkuk is “a hot and dusty city of just over a million people.”  Each letter continues, “The fruits of all our soldiers' efforts are clearly visible in the streets of Kirkuk today.  There is very little trash in the streets, many more people in the markets and shops, and children have returned to school.”  The soldier says, “I am proud of the work we are doing here in Iraq and I hope all of your readers are, as well.”

Gannett reporters set out to locate the authors of those letters, or at the very least, family members.  The news staff managed to contact six of the troops directly, or through family members.  Interviews, while very much in support of the text of the letters, raised more questions than answers.

Sgt. Christopher Shelton said he signed the letter, after it was distributed by his platoon sergeant.  He and other members of his platoon were asked to sign the letter, if they agreed and provide the names of their hometown newspapers.

Sgt. Todd Oliver, spokesman for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, said he was told a soldier wrote the letter, but he didn't know who.  He quickly defended the brigade's public affairs unit, saying they were not involved.  Sgt. Oliver said when he asked other soldiers in his unit to sign the letter, they did.  Sgt. Oliver added, “Someone, somewhere along the way, took it upon themselves to mail it to the various editors of newspapers across the country.”

Lt. Col. Bill MacDonald, spokesmand for the 4th Infantry  Division, heading operations in north-central Iraq, denied any knowledge of the letter.  Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, echoed the denial.  

Timothy Deaconson of Beckley, WV, congratulated his son on the fine job he had done writing the letter.  Knowing his son, Mr. Deaconson didn't expect the excellent writing style.  His son responded, “What letter?”  He had no knowledge of the letter and was currently in a hospital recovering from a shrapnel wound to both legs.

The remaining contacts by Gannett News Service substantiated the claims.  Some soldiers had heard of the letter, others did not.  Some were asked to sign a form letter, which apparently was sent to hometown newspapers.  Military public affairs officers deny any knowledge of the letter.  The letter itself was a form letter of unknown origin and nothing more.

Was the letter a drafted creation of some military public affairs officer?  Did the letter originate in Iraq or possibly in the Pentagon?  Did anyone in Washington have knowledge of the letter and the distribution to several newspapers in the U.S.?  We may never have the answer to that question.

While we may never know who wrote the letter, we do know something about it.  Even if every word in the letter is true, the letter is still a lie.  The letter is propaganda.  Someone, somewhere has used American soldiers, without their consent or knowledge, to bolster support for the Bush Administration's Iraq Reconstruction Plan.  At the very least, the attempt is immoral and disgusting!

Propaganda is as old as warfare, itself.  We dropped leaflets in Afghanistan, depicting Osama bin Laden (do you remember him?) wearing a western suit.  The intent was to convince his followers that he'd sold out to the West.  In wars of the past, we've labeled our enemies as “Krauts,” “Nips,” “Gooks,” “Commies,” and numerous other derogatory terms.  Why?  There is a need to dehumanize the enemy.  Once gains far more support at home when the enemy is reduced to just a word, rather than as a fellow citizen of this planet.

Propaganda will always be a part of warfare.  We use it just as every other nation does.  We have gone too far, however, by using the names of individual soldiers to promote a plan without direction.  We've been promised evidence of weapons of mass destruction.  We've been promised that Osama bin Laden would be captured.  We've been promised that Saddam Hussein would be captured.  We've been told that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Africa.  We've been told that Iraq is the threat to America, although it was a small army of Saudis who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  When  is the lying in Washington going to stop?

If you have questions or comments, please email Stan.

©2003  Stan G. Kain