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CNN Live At Daybreak
International Wrap, Eye on World
Aired October 13, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A question for you: How is it that different communities across the country are getting the exact same letter, but each letter has a different name? The letters come from over in Iraq, and they're all praising the rebuilding effort over there.
David Clinch is here with some insights.
This is a strange story.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is a strange story, Carol. The story -- the letter-writing campaign is a story we've been aware for quite some time -- letters apparently from U.S. soldiers in Iraq being published in their hometown newspapers, talking about the successes, the advances that they have made -- these individuals and their units have made in Iraq during their time serving in Iraq.
Well, somebody at the Gannett News Service, the Gannett News group of newspapers, took the time to compare some of these letters, including two that they got themselves. It turned out that they were identical letters. At least in one case, they were identical letters signed by two different soldiers.
Now, that drew attention to the whole letter-writing campaign. They've now gone through and found a number of instances of that. We're following their lead now and checking with the U.S. military as to whether this is an instance -- or obviously different explanations for this. It could be that the whole thing is faked, that these are not really coming from U.S. soldiers at all. It could be that somebody is putting out these generic letters and that U.S. soldiers are signing them and they're being sent off. Or it could be something a little bit more sinister, that somebody in the U.S. military is deliberately putting out this out. That seems very unlikely.
But we're asking the question, and so far at the top level, at least in Iraq, the question is they don't know. They're looking into it themselves and encouraging us to talk directly to the units in Iraq from where these letters came.
So, we're doing that. It's very interesting.
Now, of course, it's an insult. No matter what it is, it's an insult to the soldiers who are out there. I mean, we're covering this story today, and over the last few weeks and the next few weeks, of U.S. soldiers who finally -- after months, even a year -- are getting a couple of weeks at home, some of them seeing their families for the first time in months. Now, they're being tripped back to Iraq almost immediately. A couple of weeks at home and they're going back, and something like this comes up. No matter what's behind it, it's an insult to those U.S. soldiers. So, that's an unfortunate thing.
Another thing we're looking into, apparently a sharp -- well, not a sharp rise, but a rise in the number of suicides in the U.S. military in Iraq. Perhaps not that surprising, but we're going to look a little bit into that to see if it's just a statistic, or whether there really are more suicides amongst U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.
COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks. We appreciate it.
CLINCH: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 13, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A question for you: How is it that different communities across the country are getting the exact same letter, but each letter has a different name? The letters come from over in Iraq, and they're all praising the rebuilding effort over there.
David Clinch is here with some insights.
This is a strange story.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is a strange story, Carol. The story -- the letter-writing campaign is a story we've been aware for quite some time -- letters apparently from U.S. soldiers in Iraq being published in their hometown newspapers, talking about the successes, the advances that they have made -- these individuals and their units have made in Iraq during their time serving in Iraq.
Well, somebody at the Gannett News Service, the Gannett News group of newspapers, took the time to compare some of these letters, including two that they got themselves. It turned out that they were identical letters. At least in one case, they were identical letters signed by two different soldiers.
Now, that drew attention to the whole letter-writing campaign. They've now gone through and found a number of instances of that. We're following their lead now and checking with the U.S. military as to whether this is an instance -- or obviously different explanations for this. It could be that the whole thing is faked, that these are not really coming from U.S. soldiers at all. It could be that somebody is putting out these generic letters and that U.S. soldiers are signing them and they're being sent off. Or it could be something a little bit more sinister, that somebody in the U.S. military is deliberately putting out this out. That seems very unlikely.
But we're asking the question, and so far at the top level, at least in Iraq, the question is they don't know. They're looking into it themselves and encouraging us to talk directly to the units in Iraq from where these letters came.
So, we're doing that. It's very interesting.
Now, of course, it's an insult. No matter what it is, it's an insult to the soldiers who are out there. I mean, we're covering this story today, and over the last few weeks and the next few weeks, of U.S. soldiers who finally -- after months, even a year -- are getting a couple of weeks at home, some of them seeing their families for the first time in months. Now, they're being tripped back to Iraq almost immediately. A couple of weeks at home and they're going back, and something like this comes up. No matter what's behind it, it's an insult to those U.S. soldiers. So, that's an unfortunate thing.
Another thing we're looking into, apparently a sharp -- well, not a sharp rise, but a rise in the number of suicides in the U.S. military in Iraq. Perhaps not that surprising, but we're going to look a little bit into that to see if it's just a statistic, or whether there really are more suicides amongst U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.
COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks. We appreciate it.
CLINCH: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
