Impersonal 'your son is dead' letters

[LynnTheDem]

DKos:

The least this administration could do is sign the damn letters to parents, wives and husbands telling them their loved ones have sacrificed all in Iraq. Col. Hackworth, who signed similar letters with his own pen during Vietnam, is indignant.

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.


His beloved shock-and-awe whiz-bang wonder weapons worked well enough initially in Afghanistan and Iraq, but as we saw on the tube last week, we’re once again back to the age-old struggle of man against man – with grunts, not machines, taking and holding ground.



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.

More at link:

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=101&rnd=5.562757471877733

[htuttle]

1. Donald Rumsfeld once said troops were 'fungible'

Which means they are interchangeable and replaceable. Like tires.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4739978/

In his news conference Thursday, Rumsfeld, responding to a reporter's question about why more troops were needed when the situation in the south of Iraq had largely stabilized, said “the reason it is contained is because we have the extra troops there. That is self-evident. Come on, people are fungible. You can have them here or there.”

[Contrary1]

9. Giving a damn...

is hard work.

[Ilsa]

2. He's afraid of getting writer's cramps.

Heartless Bastard. Can't even spare the energy and a few minutes to sign the letters of death. How cold can you get?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Bastards.

With a prick like Rumsferatu in charge, I'd almost expect a form letter like this:

Dear _____:

The Department of Defense regrets to inform you that your :
(son)
(daughter)
has been :
(killed)
(injured)
in :
(Iraq)
(Afghanistan)
(other)
Have a nice day.

Very truly yours,
DONALD RUMSFELD

[Goldom]

4. "Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. and Mrs.:

Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, father, or brother was killed, wounded or reported missing in action."

-Joseph Heller

[blondeatlast]

5. Love the hypocrisy here; too many of our soldiers and

families offering a precious sacrifice for our Defense Secretary to keep up with.

If that doesn't say "failure" and "quagmire," what else possibly could?

[Radical Activist]

6. This man is not human

Or perhaps he doesn't want to be reminded of the consequences of his actions.

[TexasLady]

7. I swear, out of ALL the weenies

in the * admin, I think I despise him the most. Hes a smarmy, purple headed dick that reminds me of an old ugly school master with a ruler in one hand and a porno mag in the other. Sick, sick, sick.:mad:

Just more confirmation that I am, and always will be, right in my assessment of this twit fuck.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[arewenotdemo]

10. right about that

and that death's head grin of his is nothing if not sick.

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. we've come a long way

from JFK's day.

I love that scene at the end of 13 Days when Kevin Cosner's character is signing the letter about the soldier who was shot down over Cuba.

If I'm remembering correctly, didn't Kennedy also call the parents?

Or did Cosnar both call and write the letter? I'm having trouble remembering, it was a while since I've seen it.

[The Zanti Regent]

11. I got NO letter from this bastard.

My only child took a bullet in the spine and lay in agony for months.

did I get a letter from Mr. Asshole Rumsfeld when my boy died?

No, I did not...

So the funeral is underway, I told them I didn't want my boy wrapped in the flag, they ignored me and did the shtick anyway. They offered me the flag, I told them to stick it. They insisted that i take that worthless cloth. So, the chaplin who performed the ceremony came to see me.

He insisted that I take the flag. I pulled out my old Zippo, told that fraud point blank that I would burn that worthless piece of shit flag. I then roasted that liar's ears off and showed him the door.

I don't live in America anymore, I'm a prisoner in Jesusland.

[Name removed]

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