Fake "Patriot" Letter Redux

Here we go again.

 

In October, I blogged the story of faked soldiers' letters -- all identical -- appearing in small-town newspapers across the U.S.:

 

FLASH: Fake Soldier Letters [October 11, 2003]

 

Fake Soldier Letters Getting Wide Coverage [October 13, 2003]

 

FLASH: Army's Got Their Patsy [October 14, 2003]

 

Here's the latest "astroturf letter" to fool unwitting newspaper editors:

 

To the editor:

 

As a patriotic American working in a dangerous corner of the world, I am gratified by the support of my fellow Americans back home in trying to make conditions better for me and our fellow Americans here in the Middle East.

 

Many servicemen and women have come here and some have died, fighting to ensure a peaceful future for this region and the entire world. Their task, and that of our President, is far from an easy one. But I am gratified to observe the fervor and dedication they exhibit in carrying out their dangerous duties.

 

I realize that there will be times of difficulty in the struggle to make the Middle East a more peaceful place to live. But the long-term goal of a more peaceful world should be kept in mind during these difficult times.

 

I encourage all my fellow Americans back home to continue to give their full support to our far-sighted President and to the servicemen and women fighting in the Middle East. Please keep them and all of us Americans residing in this dangerous part of the world in your prayers; and let's hope that all of us can strive to bring about the long-term goal of a peaceful, democratic region that experiences the end of conflict and disharmony and the birth of peace, concord and brotherly love.

 

Kim Hester

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

 

And here's where you'll find it online (so far -- expect this number to climb):

 

Hudson-Litchfield News, New Hampshire, November 21, 2003

 

Mineral Wells Index, Texas, November 21, 2003

 

Willits News, California, November 21, 2003

 

Fulton Valley News, New York State, November 22, 2003

 

East Texas News, letter already yanked, week of November 23-29, 2003

 

Uintah Basin Standard, Roosevelt, Utah, November 25, 2003

 

Ashley County Ledger, Arkansas, November 26, 2003

 

Barnstable Patriot, Hyannis, Massachusetts, November 28, 2003

 

News-Democrat & Leader, Russellville, Kentucky, November 28, 2003

 

Central Kentucky News-Journal, November 30, 2003

 

Weirs Times Online, New Hampshire, Week of December 1, 2003

 

Sonoran News, Cave Creek, Arizona, December 2, 2003

 

Walk Pilot Independent, Minnesota, December 4, 2003

 

Lusk Herald, Wyoming, no date

 

Northeast Georgian, no date

 

I gave you (mostly) Google cache links, because letters to the editors drop off the "current" letters page of every newspaper so quickly. (And, besides, when these editors realize they've been hoodwinked, they'll most likely pull the bogus piece.)

 

I'm sure it's not lost on you that these astroturfers don't dare send their canned spam to major news outlets. They're hitting small towns in mostly Republican strongholds, reinforcing the kind of flag-wavin', war-lovin', my-pres-i-dunce-right-or-wrong sentiment one finds in towns where the residents rely only on the local rag instead of those big, mean, "liberal-slanted" city newspapers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post. (Never mind that neither the NYT or the WP is exactly the bastion of liberalism; if it ain't got the Murdoch or Ailes stamp of propaganda, it ain't ham.)

 

But this is how the bad guys work. The warmongers don't have the guts to confront their mistakes (or outright lies) head-on, so they sneak their propaganda in through the back door.

 

Deception, deception, deception, quoth Tennesse Williams' Amanda.

 

Boy, there's really a theme here today, isn't there? Well, not really; these sneaky tactics are going on all around us, every day. But it's been a relatively slow news week -- and that's when we're more likely to notice these "little" stories -- the cumulative effect of which has, unfortunately, a huge longterm impact.

 

Why else do you think the Right's favorite tack is to create news to distract us from what's really going on?

 

Which means you can probably expect something big to happen soon.

 

P.S. Anybody up for e-mailing a few oblivious editors today to alert them to their boneheaded goof? It's fun -- and satisfying!

 

Fake "Patriot" Letter Redux 7:23:13 PM
comment [] | trackback []

---

Have I Got a Google Trick for You!

1. Go to Google.

 

2. Type "miserable failure" into the search box (with or without the quotes; it doesn't matter).

 

3. Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.

 

4. Enjoy.

 

Thanks to DU's cjbuchanan for the tip!

 

Have I Got a Google Trick for You! 11:57:58 AM
comment [] | trackback []

---

So There Was Only One Turkey in Baghdad

President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.

 

In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.

 

The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

 

But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.

 

Officials said they did not know the turkey would be there or that Bush would pick it up. A contractor had roasted and primped the turkey to adorn the buffet line, while the 600 soldiers were served from cafeteria-style steam trays, the officials said. They said the bird was not placed there in anticipation of Bush's stealthy visit, and military sources said a trophy turkey is a standard feature of holiday chow lines.

 

The scene, which lasted just a few seconds, was not visible to a reporter who was there but was recorded by a pool photographer and described by officials yesterday in response to questions raised in Washington.

 

Bush's standing rose in a poll conducted immediately after the trip. Administration officials said the presidential stop provided a morale boost that troops in Iraq are still talking about, and helped reassure Iraqis about U.S. intentions.

 

Nevertheless, the foray has opened new credibility questions for a White House that has dealt with issues as small as who placed the "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the aircraft carrier Bush used to proclaim the end of major combat operations in Iraq, and as major as assertions about Saddam Hussein's arsenal of unconventional weapons and his ability to threaten the United States. ...

 

White House officials do not deny that they craft elaborate events to showcase Bush, but they maintain that these events are designed to accurately dramatize his policies and to convey qualities about him that are real. ...

 

Mike Allen

The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner

Washington Post

December 4, 2003

 

Find this funny? I did, but only for a moment. I mean, seriously, people, just how great a range on the spectrum of lies (and, in this case, a not-so-subliminal reference to a certain Norman Rockwell painting*) does BushCo feel the need to cover in order to enhance Smirky McNasty's image?

 

The entire spectrum, obviously. No lie is too big or too small for BushCo. Nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Uranium from Niger. Aluminum tubes. Mobile-weapons labs. Drone planes. ...

 

Exploiting Jessica Lynch. Blaming the Navy for the "Mission Accomplished" banner. The imaginary radio call from an imaginary British Airways pilot who did not spot Air Force One on its way to Baghdad (the purpose of which still mystifies me).

 

As Amanda intones in The Glass Menagerie: Deception, deception, deception.

 

It goes without saying that everything about George W. Bush is fake. And it's no secret that he needs props and set decoration to convince brain-dead, Fox News-fed Americans that he's a real swell guy who has nothing but the best interests of America at heart.

 

So the turkey was just another prop. Add it to the long list of props -- the aforementioned "Mission Accomplished" banner, the mind-numbing repetition of key phrases across podium backdrops, the rally-'round-the-photo-op memos to corporate employees, the hastily-obscured "Made in China" labels... even Barney the dog (look at the photos, and you'll see there's no love lost between those two)...

 

The list is endless. But it's nothing more or less than you can expect from this Disneyfication of evil.

 

It's all make-believe. And the public is buying it.

 

 

Related articles:

 

Backdrop Snafu in Bush Speech. At first look, the stage for President Bush's speech on the economy in St. Louis was set perfectly. The White House, long known for its catchy, attention-grabbing backdrops, had designed a gigantic banner made to look like stacked boxes stamped with "MADE IN U.S.A." ... The problem was that the real boxes surrounding the president at the scene of his speech — a small shipping and receiving plant, JS Logistics — should have read: "NOT Made in U.S.A." ... Next to the banner and stacked around his podium were hundreds of boxes labeled "Made in China" — and Taiwan and Hong Kong. Someone apparently became aware of the mixed message, for white stickers and brown packing tape were mysteriously taped over the true origin of the real boxes that travel through the trucking and warehouse business daily. ... White House officials traveling with the president today said the tape job came as a complete surprise to them. ... [ABC News, January 22, 2003]

 

Slate Whopper of the Week. "The theme involves working Americans. Visually, this will involve a sea of hard hats, which our construction and contractor and building groups are working very hard to provide. But the Speaker's office was very clear in saying that they do not need people in suits. If people want to participate -- AND WE DO NEED BODIES -- they must be DRESSED DOWN, appear to be REAL WORKER types, etc. We plan to have hard hats for people to wear. Other groups are providing waiters/waitresses, and other types of workers." [Memo from Russ Freyman, associate director for media relations, National Association of Manufacturers, soliciting participants for staged publicity photo to rally support for Republican tax-cut plan, March 9, 2001]

 

Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights. George W. Bush's "Top Gun" landing on the deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln will be remembered as one of the most audacious moments of presidential theater in American history. But it was only the latest example of how the Bush administration, going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft set by the Reagan White House, is using the powers of television and technology to promote a presidency like never before. ... It is all by design: the White House has stocked its communications operation with people from network television who have expertise in lighting, camera angles and the importance of backdrops. ... For a speech that Mr. Bush delivered last summer at Mount Rushmore, the White House positioned the best platform for television crews off to one side, not head on as other White Houses have done, so that the cameras caught Mr. Bush in profile, his face perfectly aligned with the four presidents carved in stone. ... [Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, May 16, 2003]

 

Weapons Of Mass Stupidity. Is it sheer coincidence that the president's stage manager, Greg Jenkins -- responsible for the notorious flight-suit landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, and for posing George Bush against Mt. Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty -- was recently a producer at Fox News? If these elaborate tableaus Jenkins choreographs for President Bush seem clumsy, tasteless, condescending and insulting to your intelligence, you must be some kind of liberal. ... How stupid are we, finally, how easy to fool? ... [Hal Crowther, Creative Loafing, June 4, 2003]

 

Incubator Redux: Top 40 Lies About Iraq [doublethink, July 16, 2003]

 

    

 

* Personally, I think this is a much more fitting Thanksgiving image for Bush. The title of this J.C. Leyendecker work is (honest!) "Baby Butcher."

 

So There Was Only One Turkey in Baghdad 11:27:02 AM
comment [] | trackback []

---

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Can anyone explain to me just why the White House would make up a lie about a thing like this? Some say it's because Bush never went to Baghdad at all, and the claim that AF1 had been "spotted" would lend credibility to a staged trip (to, say, the Nevada desert, which looks a lot like Iraq -- not, mind you, that Bush ever ventured outside the Iraqi airport complex, so "location shooting" was unnecessary).

 

But I honestly don't think Unka Karl is that stupid; such a lie would be found out. And it was:

 

Bush's Baghdad-bound plane was spotted by British Airways pilot. In a footnote to President Bush's surprise trip to Baghdad, the White House identified the location and time when Air Force One was spotted en route to Iraq last week by a British Airways pilot. The sighting occurred Thursday morning, just after daybreak, off the western coast of England, said White House communications director Dan Bartlett. If it had led to public disclosure of Bush's trip, the mission would have been scrapped, Bartlett said. He said the pilot of the British Airways plane radioed the tower in London and reported the apparent sighting of Air Force One. The tower, apparently relying on phony flight-plan information filed to protect Air Force One's identity, radioed back that it was a Gulfstream Five, a much smaller plane. Bartlett said he had left the wrong impression Thursday that the conversation had taken place between the British Airways pilot and the pilot of Air Force One, Col. Mark Tillman. ... Bartlett said Bush and his senior aides were not aware of the spotting until Air Force One was on its way home from Baghdad. [Associated Press, December 2, 2003]

 

White House version of mid-air exchange disputed. British Airways says that none of its pilots made contact with President George W. Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White House reports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip. Honor Verrier, a spokeswoman for British Airways in North America, said on Monday two BA aircraft were in the area at the time and neither radioed the president's plane to ask if it was Air Force One. ... The White House had no immediate comment on the discrepancy. ... [Reuters, December 1, 2003]

 

Changing a Story on the Fly. The White House has changed one aspect of its account of President George W. Bush's surprise Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad: the spotting of Air Force One by a British Airways pilot. Initially, according to accounts by journalists on the trip, White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said the British pilot had radioed, "'Did I just see Air Force One?'" and that the pilot of Air Force One had replied, "'Gulfstream Five,'" a much smaller aircraft. Yesterday, after British Airways had denied that account, the White House said the radio conversation actually took place between the British pilot and the control tower in London. The tower's response was apparently based on false flight plan information given to protect the secrecy of the trip. ... A British Airways spokesman told The Associated Press that none of its pilots has come forward to acknowledge either making or overhearing the purported conversation.

[Ken Fireman, Newsday, December 3, 2003]

 

British deny pilot saw Iraq-bound Air Force One. [A]fter British Airways denied such a conversation took place, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday the airline's pilot never contacted Air Force One. "The conversation was between the British Airways plane and the London control tower," McClellan said. It was also the London control tower, not an Air Force One pilot, as in the original story, that misidentified Air Force One as a much smaller "Gulfstream 5" aircraft, McClellan said. He said Air Force One pilots overheard the conversation while flying over the west coast of England, and the British Airways plane could be identified by its call sign when it spoke to the tower. McClellan declined to say whether Air Force One had sent a false electronic identification or whether controllers were in on the deception. British Airways said it could not confirm the new account. ... [Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters, December 4, 2003]

 

U.S. attempts to clear air on pilot story. The original story — which held that the airline's pilot had talked to Air Force One and that he kept the secret of Bush's U.S. Thanksgiving Day flight to Baghdad — had been told by White House communications director Dan Bartlett to reporters as he sought to portray the drama of Bush's trip. ... McClellan explained the change in the White House story by saying, "I don't think everybody was clear on exactly how that conversation happened." The White House has come under criticism for backtracking on its account of other high-profile events. In October, it conceded it had helped with a large "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier where Bush announced in May that major fighting had ended in Iraq. Bush had initially said his advance team did not put up the banner, whose message critics viewed as premature given continued attacks on occupying forces in Iraq. The White House also acknowledged in July that a claim by Bush in his State of the Union address last January that Iraq tried to buy African uranium was based partly on forged documents. [Reuters, December 4, 2003]

 

My guess is that the story was made up to increase public (mis)perception of just how "dangerous" Bush's trip was.

 

And it backfired.

 

What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 11:05:12 AM
comment [] | trackback []

---