Some soldiers in Iraq are being ordered to write letters to hometown newspapers (or, to be precise, to sign letters written for them) explaining how well things are going over there. In at least one instance, a soldier had his named signed to a letter he never saw. (Others appear to be voluntarily signing letters they didn’t actually write.)
Hesiod is all over the story. [*] [**] Capitol Hill Blue has more details. [*]
This is disgusting on so many levels at once that I can’t even get my outrage organized, so comment is left as an excercise for the reader.
Update: Latest rumor is that some Lieutenant Colonel drafted the letter. [*] So far, the letters seem all to have come from a single unit, so this might be a misguided local intitiative rather than part of the Administration’s coordinated “push-back.” Let’s hope so.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman
Military's Snow Job
The US military is doing whatever it takes to present a positive image of Shrub's occupation of Iraq. Apparently, "whatever it takes" includes misrepresentation through astroturf.