two very disapointing stories1) It appears as if all those letters to the Editor we've been reading from soldiers aren't so authentic: 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.2) This doesn't sound like a peaceful rebuilding process: US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops. UPDATE - Hei Lun linked me to this InstaPundit piece about the letters story. I should probably clarify my position. Unlike Glenn Reynolds I never suspected these letters were fraudulent or coming from anti-war sources looking to discredit the Iraqi occupation. I just believe that it's very dishonest of the military to have soldiers sign their names to form letters, especially since we the pro-War crowd have used these letters to display the actual experiences of our soldiers, and to discredit the tone of Iraq reports in the media. I'm not saying that I disbelieve the letters now, just that, if they effectively are no better than press releases from the military brass, then they're just that much less effective for countering media spin. |
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