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Sunday, October 12, 2003
U.S. Soldiers Signed Letters They Did Not Write Praising Iraqi War Effort By Staff and Wire Reports
Identical letters claiming to be from different U.S. soldiers describing successes in Iraq were sent to newspapers around the country and soldiers whose names appeared on those letters admit they did not write them and some say they were ordered by their superiors to sign their names.
Identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment have appeared in 11 newspapers so far and have been sent to many more, a check with newspaper editors around the country reveals.
In Olympia, Washington, The Olympian newspaper received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers: Spc. Joshua Ackler and Sgt. Alex Marois. The paper decided not to run either after discovering they were form letters.
The five-paragraph letter tells glowing stories about soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments, and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where the unit is based.
It describes people waving at passing troops and children running up to shake their hands and say thank you. "The quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restored, and we are a large part of why that has happened," the letter reads.
Six soldiers reached by Gannett News Service directly or through their families admitted they did not write the leters. One said he didn't even sign the letter that bore his name.
Marois, 23, told his family he signed the letter, but Moya Marois, his stepmother. said he was puzzled why it was sent to the newspaper in Olympia. He attended high school in Olympia but no longer considers the city home, she said. Moya Marois and Alex's father, Les, now live near Kooskia, Idaho.
A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va.
"When I told him he wrote such a good letter, he said: 'What letter?' " Timothy Deaconson said Friday, recalling the phone conversation he had with his son, Nick. "This is just not his (writing) style."
He spoke to his son, Pfc. Nick Deaconson, at a hospital where he was recovering from a grenade explosion that left shrapnel in both his legs.
One soldier, who asked not to be identified, said he was reluctant to sign the letter because he did not agree with the comments in the letter but said he was ordered by a superior officer to sign.
"When I'm given an order, I obey it," he said.
Sgt. Christopher Shelton, who signed a letter that ran in the Snohomish Herald, said Friday that his platoon sergeant had distributed the letter and asked soldiers for the names of their hometown newspapers. Soldiers were them told to sign the letter.
Sgt. Todd Oliver, a spokesman for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which counts the 503rd as one of its units, said he was told a soldier wrote the letter, but he didn't know who. He claimed the brigade's public affairs unit was not involved.
"When he asked other soldiers in his unit to sign it, they did," Oliver explained in an e-mail response. "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, a spokesman for the 4th infantry Division that is heading operations in north-central Iraq, said he had not heard about the letter-writing campaign.
Neither had Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
A recent poll suggests that Americans are increasingly skeptical of America's prolonged involvement in Iraq. A USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll released Sept. 23 found 50 percent believe that the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over, down from 73 percent in April.
A New York Times-CBS Poll is even more bleak, showing 48 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the administration is handling the war in Iraq and 53 percent saying the war was not worth either the cost or the loss of lives.
The letter talks about the soldiers' mission, saying, "one thousand of my fellow soldiers and I parachuted from ten jumbo jets." It describes Kirkuk as "a hot and dusty city of just over a million people." It tells about the progress they have made.
"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 letter reads. "I am proud of the work we are doing here in Iraq and I hope all of your readers are as well."
Sgt. Shawn Grueser of Poca, W.Va., said he spoke to a military public affairs officer whose name he couldn't remember about his accomplishments in Iraq for what he thought was a news release to be sent to his hometown paper in Charleston, W.Va. But the 2nd Battalion soldier said he did not sign any letter.
Although Grueser said he was uncomfortable that a letter with his signature did not contain his own words or spell out his own accomplishments.
"It makes it look like you cheated on a test, and everybody got the same grade," Grueser said by phone from a base in Italy where he had just arrived from Iraq.
Moya Marois said she is proud of her stepson Alex, the former Olympia resident. But she worries that the letter tries to give legitimacy to a war she doesn't think was justified.
"We're going to support our son," she said. But "there are a lot of Americans that are not in support of this war that would like to see them returned home, and think it's going to get worse." A Pentagon spokesman refused to comment directly on the letter when contacted Saturday but said the military is "looking into the matter."
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