"With Deepest Sympathy" Rumsfeld machine-signature!

[Born_A_Truman]

Donald Rumsfeld – who’s known as a people-eating systems man – has a long history that shows he prefers technology to humans. Certainly as SecDef he’s always gone for high-tech military gear rather than giving the boots on the ground max priority when it comes to the basics: armored vehicles and vests, sufficient ammo and all the other vital stuff that helps soldiers make it through the Valley of Death.

(snip)

And now, apparently, Rumsfeld’s obsession with machines and their efficiency has translated into his using one to replace his own John Hancock on KIA (killed in action) letters to parents and spouses. Two Pentagon-based colonels, who’ve both insisted on anonymity to protect their careers, have indignantly reported that the SecDef has relinquished this sacred duty to a signature device rather than signing the sad documents himself.

I then went to about a dozen next-of-kin of American soldiers KIA in Iraq. Most agreed with the colonels’ accusations and said they’d noticed and been insulted by the machine-driven signature. One father bitterly commented that he thought it was a shame that the SecDef could keep his squash schedule but not find the time to sign his dead son’s letter. Several also felt compelled to tell me that the letter they received from George Bush also looked as though it was not signed personally by the president.

Dr. Ted Smith, whose son Eric was among the first 100 killed in Iraq, notes that the letter he received “from the commander in chief was signed with a thick, green marking pen. I thought it was stamped then and do even now. He had time for golf and the ranch but not enough to sign a decent signature with a pen for his beloved hero soldiers. I was going to send the letter back but did not. I am sorry I didn’t.”


http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target%20Homepage.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=93&rnd=34.48992272314272

[ramapo]

1. What would you expect?

This is the biggest bunch of losers ever in the annals of the US govt.

Out of sight, out of mind. What dead guys?

[xultar]

2. WTF so many dead he doesnt have time to sign n/t

[tabasco]

3. Just fungibles that need replaced.

No need for concern for some lost supplies.

Did the American People really ask for more of this immoral leadership?

[DeepGreen]

4. Such a SICK uncaring SLOB !!!!

:grr:

[Old and In the Way]

5. If he had to put his signature on that letter 1200 times,

maybe he'd have to confront the results of his policy. Doesn't surprise me in the least....just like Bush not attending funerals of our soldiers. Out of sight, out of mind.

[MADem]

6. During Vietnam, Johnson personally signed every letter

That was quite a few during his time. Not sure what Nixon did, but I will bet he went the auto-pen route.

You can tell the "auto-pen" signature. Each one is just like the next, without any of the normal variations that occur in a real signature. The auto-pen actually moves the pen across the paper, but the slant, pressure, size of letters, etc. is EXACTLY the same, EVERY time. And the 'signer' usually delegates the job to some trusted senior toady, and at the most might get a weekly summary of letters signed/mailed.

I am of the opinion that if you can send them off to die, you can sign the letter. If this is true, it tells us all we need to know about the administration's lack of regard for those serving and dying for the country.

[Born_A_Truman]

7. Hackworth

I read David Hackworth quite a bit to see what's really going on with our soldiers, not the MSM BS. I don't believe he would have written the column if he didn't have good sources.

[MADem]

9. He could very well know

...the 0-6 who is probably in charge of this nasty evolution.

[signmike]

8. remember the generic letter in Catch 22 ?

I don't have a copy of the book, but it went something like;
With regrets/regards for your son/daughter/other who was killed/captured/wounded in action, sincerely yrs, etc. etc. etc.
Lieutenant Scheisskopf