Monday, August 29, 2005
Catapulting the propaganda right onto the gravestones
where it can ricochet onto the mourners.
Old-ish news, but the AP reported that the gravestones of soldiers who were killed in the Iraq invasion are engraved with the slogans the administration's marketing department selected for this war:
As you may recall, the Pentagon had to be sued into releasing photographs of coffins returning from Iraq.
Seems to me the Pentagon is missing a golden opportunity to catapult the propaganda far and wide: Why not emblazon the coffins with stirring slogans such as "Operation Enduring Freedom" and allow them to photographed, even televised as they return to the States? I'm convinced the only reason the Pentagon isn't doing that now is 'cause they just haven't thought of it. Boy, what Karen Hughes couldn't do with those coffins . . .
(Bush on "catapulting the propaganda (heh heh)" here - warning, audio)
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where it can ricochet onto the mourners.
Old-ish news, but the AP reported that the gravestones of soldiers who were killed in the Iraq invasion are engraved with the slogans the administration's marketing department selected for this war:
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.
Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.
The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.
Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn't always happened.
Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.
"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey said, describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone. "They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me." He said Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked either.
"In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."
The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.
"It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones," said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. "It seems like it might be connected to politics."
As you may recall, the Pentagon had to be sued into releasing photographs of coffins returning from Iraq.
Seems to me the Pentagon is missing a golden opportunity to catapult the propaganda far and wide: Why not emblazon the coffins with stirring slogans such as "Operation Enduring Freedom" and allow them to photographed, even televised as they return to the States? I'm convinced the only reason the Pentagon isn't doing that now is 'cause they just haven't thought of it. Boy, what Karen Hughes couldn't do with those coffins . . .
(Bush on "catapulting the propaganda (heh heh)" here - warning, audio)
