Students Sending US GIs Vicious Letters In Iraq

[David]

Do you believe this? This is obviously the handiwork of the teachers and Administrators. New Lib heroes at work. This will be followed up on here. This is an absolute outrage. NY Post. :chainsaw:
SOURCE
SOLDIER STUNNED BY LETTER KIDS' RANTS

By DAVID ANDREATTA

An American soldier overseas is fuming over letters he received from Brooklyn middle-school children accusing GIs of destroying mosques and killing civilians in Iraq.

Pfc. Rob Jacobs of New Jersey said he was initially ecstatic to get a package of letters from sixth-graders at JHS 51 in Park Slope last month at his base 10 miles from the North Korea border.

That changed when he opened the envelope and found missives strewn with politically charged rhetoric, vicious accusations and demoralizing predictions that only a handful of soldiers would leave the Iraq war alive.

"It's hard enough for soldiers to deal with being away from their families, they don't need to be getting letters like this," Jacobs, 20, said in a phone interview from his base at Camp Casey.

"If they don't have anything nice to say, they might as well not say anything at all."

One Muslim boy wrote: "Even thoe [sic] you are risking your life for our country, have you seen how many civilians you or some other soldier killed?"

His letter, which was stamped with a smiley face, went on: "I know your [sic] trying to save our country and kill the terrorists but you are also destroying holy places like Mosques."

Most of the 21 letters Jacobs provided to The Post mentioned some support for the armed forces, if not the Iraq war, and thanked him for his service. But nine of the students made clear their distaste for the president or the war.

The letters were written as a social-studies assignment.

The JHS 51 teacher, Alex Kunhardt, did not return phone calls, but the school principal, Xavier Costello, responded with a statement:

"While we would never censor anything that our children write, we sincerely apologize for forwarding letters that were in any way inappropriate to Pfc. Jacobs. This assignment was not intended to be insensitive, but to be supportive of the men and women in service to our nation."

[PeteS in CA]

Same old, "We support the troops but not the war." nonsense. That teachers in PSs are propagandizing their students isn't news; the news will happen as parents discover this betrayal of trust - propagandizing supplanting education.

[NetGear]

We can do some of our own administrating with a few calm, well-written, yet firm letters to the management. Granted, Castelli seems to have covered his tail fairly well in that last paragraph. {Wonder if he's chapped, because they called him a Costello?}

JHS 051 - BROOKLYN

I guess the next question would be; should they have read all of the out-going letters? Then; should they have censored the inappropriate ones?

[David]

NY Post
SOURCE
WRITING A WRONG

By DAVID ANDREATTA

The city Department of Education, red-faced over Brooklyn sixth-graders who slammed a GI with demoralizing anti-Iraq-war letters as part of a school assignment, will send the 20-year-old private a letter of apology today.

Deputy Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, who has a nephew serving in Iraq, plans to personally contact Pfc. Rob Jacobs and his family, said department spokeswoman Michele McManus Higgins.

"She knows how difficult it is to have a loved one in a war zone," Higgins said.

Jacobs is stationed 10 miles from the North Korean border and who has been told he may be headed to Iraq in the near future.

The GI got the ranting missives last month from pint-sized pen pals at JHS 51 in Park Slope.

Filled with political diatribes, the letters — excerpts of which were printed in yesterday's Post — predicted GIs would die by the tens of thousands, accused soldiers of killing Iraqi civilians and bashed President Bush.

Teacher Alex Kunhardt had his students write Jacobs as part of a social-studies assignment.

He declined to comment yesterday on whether he read the rants before passing them along, but said he planned to contact Jacobs soon to explain the situation.

In an accompanying letter to Jacobs, Kunhardt had written that the students "come from a variety of backgrounds and political beliefs, but unanimously support the bravery and sacrifice of American soldiers around the world."

"Support" was not the word that came to Jacobs' mind when he read the letters.

One girl wrote that she believes Jacobs is "being forced to kill innocent people" and challenged him to name an Iraqi terrorist, concluding, "I know I can't."

Another girl wrote, "I strongly feel this war is pointless," while a classmate predicted that because Bush was re-elected, "only 50 or 100 [soldiers] will survive."

A boy accused soldiers of "destroying holy places like mosques."

Even one kid smitten with soldiers couldn't keep politics out of the picture, writing, "I find that many extreme liberals are disrespectful to you."

Uplifting letters from children are dear to soldiers, Jacobs said. He looks at a batch he got from a Girl Scout troop from his hometown of Middletown, N.J., whenever he feels lonely.

At the time the 21 JHS 51 letters were penned, Jacobs, who has been stationed in Korea for nearly a year, was told that he may be headed to Iraq. But no official order for deployment was given.

"If I were in Iraq and read that the youth of our nation doesn't want me to be there and doesn't believe in what I'm doing, it would mess up my head," Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he would welcome a letter from the Department of Education and the teacher.

"I want to think these letters were coached by the teacher or the parents of these children," Jacobs said in an interview from Camp Casey, Korea.

"It boggles my mind that children could think this stuff."

[Tioga Joe]

Rotten little kids. Send them on a field trip to North Korea where their ideology fits in.

A one-way field trip. And take your teachers and their worthless certification credentials with you.

[pbrauer]

IMO this story does not pass the sniff test.

[Tioga Joe]

IMO this story does not pass the sniff test.

Possible Translations:
1) "Damn that New York Post! Why can't they follow the Times' style book?"
2) "Karl Rove sat down and wrote all those letters and signed the kids' names. The evil genius strikes again!"
3) "Whosever's kid spilled the beans on this ought to get a visit from NY state's child protective services."
4) "The soldier made up the story to distract the press from investigating his work with right wing death squads killing innocent civilians."
5) "It's not true until Dan Rather reports it."
6) "That Gannon guy who sneaked into the White House must have hacked into the wire services."
7) "The school department sent an apology and that makes it a non-issue. Let's 'Move On'."
8) "A Diebold voting machine in Ohio is spamming the news wires with phony stories."
9) "Michael Moore will investigate and it will turn out that the letters were fan mail intended for John Kerry, delivered to the wrong theater and the wrong war because of George W. Bush is mismanaging the post office."
10) "Hillary's constituents loathing the military? It couldn't be!"

:wink: Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know that these don't represent your real thoughts. Or, I'm kind of sure they might not, maybe.
[/b]

[pbrauer]

#1 comes real close. :wink:

[David]

I guess this apology doesn't pass the smell test. NY Post
SOURCE
'SLUR' TEACH 'SORRY'

By DAVID ANDREATTA

The Brooklyn teacher who sent an American soldier demoralizing letters written by sixth-graders apologized yesterday and admitted blame.

In a statement issued by the Department of Education, social studies teacher Alex Kunhardt said he regretted offending Pfc. Rob Jacobs.

His statement, however, did not address whether he either coached the students or read their missives — which accused soldiers of committing atrocities in Iraq — before mailing them.

The DOE, which is sending an apology to Jacobs and his family, declined comment.

"It was never my intention to demean or insult anyone," said Kunhardt, who was spotted tossing a snowboard in his car outside his Park Slope home before driving off yesterday morning.

"I never meant for the words of my students to hurt any of our troops. The responsibility for this action is mine alone, and I apologize."

Kunhardt mailed letters to Jacobs last month written by 21 of his sixth-graders at JHS 51 in Park Slope for an assignment. Nearly half of them derided President Bush or the Iraq war and accused soldiers of crimes such as killing civilians and destroying mosques.

Even some of those that praised soldiers for their bravery were laced with divisive political rhetoric and ominous predictions.

One boy who wished soldiers would come home wrote, "From what I see on TV and in the newspaper, I don't think the US is even close to obtaining Iraqi freedom."

He went on to say: "I'm concerned that George W. Bush is president for four more years, because he doesn't want to get troops out, so you might end up staying longer."

Another boy wrote: "Bush thinks he's brave . . . in his safe little white house with as many guards as he thinks he needs." He concluded with: "By the way, when you shoot someone, is it great or horrible?"

Jacobs, who is stationed 10 miles from the North Korea border, could not be reached for comment yesterday, but previously said he found the letters demoralizing.

His father, Robert Jacobs Sr., a Manhattan lawyer, accepted Kunhardt's apology.

"I am satisfied with that apology and I won't take this any further with him," Jacobs Sr. said, adding that he would push the Education Department to institute a screening policy.

Mayor Bloomberg said New Yorkers should support the troops but that GIs in the war zone know they are protecting freedom of speech.

"We have freedom of speech and you certainly cannot go around censoring what people want to write," Bloomberg said.

"I think most of [the soldiers overseas] believe that the freedoms that we have, like the freedom to write critical letters, are protected by them putting their lives at risk," Bloomberg said.

[Orin]

Another reason why you don't obtain full rights until you reach the age of majority. Sixth graders exercising their "freedom of speech" before realizing the responsibility of doing so has certainly created an embarassing situation for the school district and demoralizing situation for our troops overseas.

[Osiris]

Another reason why you don't obtain full rights until you reach the age of majority.

Granted sixth graders may not have acted responsibly here, or otherwise they did exercise their right to write what they felt. But to make age an issue, are you proposing that adults could not also write such letters?

[Orin]

....are you proposing that adults could not also write such letters?

Age of majority in this country is 18, adulthood, the age at which you can exercise your rights independently, the age at which you are no longer the responsibility of your parents, the age you can vote, the age at which you can enter into contracts independently, 18, no longer a minor, a "major" if you will, thus the age of "major"ity. Forgive my usage of the term. I grew up near Canada, bombarded by Canadian media where that term is used thusly. I did not propose that adults could not write any such thing.

[WBR]

I think the whole story stinks.
The teacher should be fired for politicizing a school class room.

The soldier should be discharged for letting himself be "demoralized" by letters from a bunch of kids.

"If I were in Iraq and read that the youth of our nation doesn't want me to be there and doesn't believe in what I'm doing, it would mess up my head," Jacobs said.

What will it do to his head when he faces an enemy who has gun rather than a mail bag?

[pbrauer]

My instincts were right about this:

The Real Story Behind the Letters to the GI Story

SOURCE

Last night, during the second hour of his FOX News radio show, Alan Colmes hosted one of the parents of the so-called "slur" letter-writers vilified in The New York Post, a sister company to FOX News, and by Sean Hannity the night before. This story got a lot of sensationalized coverage that was neatly packaged into one of FOX's favorite subjects - schools forcing their liberal agenda on students. But as Colmes revealed tonight the real story is how The NY Post, Hannity and the other right-wing media slanted and distorted the facts to fit their own agenda.

Here's how the Post told the story of letters sent to a GI from sixth-graders in Brooklyn writing their thoughts on the war in Iraq:

• The GI got the ranting missives last month from pint-sized pen pals at JHS 51 in Park Slope.
  
  Filled with political diatribes, the letters — excerpts of which were printed in yesterday's Post — predicted GIs would die by the tens of thousands, accused soldiers of killing Iraqi civilians and bashed President Bush.
  
  Teacher Alex Kunhardt had his students write Jacobs as part of a social-studies assignment.

Monique Massa (sp?), one of the sixth-grade Moms, told a vastly different story. She talked about a teacher she described as "excellent" and "a great teacher" who gave his students the assignment to write to a fictional soldier or veteran with their thoughts on the war. According to Massa, this was a creative way to engage the students in current events and consider the experiences of people beyond the classroom. She said the students didn't know the letters were going to be sent and that the students were really "just putting their feelings to paper."

Colmes read her daughter's letter which contained no slurs but was very supportive of the troops. The daughter's letter was grossly mischaracterized in the Post as saying that only 50 or 100 soldiers would survive. In fact, she said she feared that only 50 or 100 would survive, that she missed them, that she hoped the soldiers would come home safe and sound. Colmes said that he read every one of the students' letters, that none of them were derogatory to the troops and that they expressed support and sympathy.

Judging from what Colmes read, some of the letters did seem to express SOME doubts about the nature of the mission, though, and that seems to be what the Post is objecting to without having the courage or honesty to confront it head on, without shamelessly demonizing and exploiting a group of children for its own polictical purposes.

Besides baselessly whipping up controversy and division among the public, Massa also revealed the personal cost to her child who had become a pawn in someone else's game (while pointing a finger at the other side for promoting propaganda). She explained how upset her daughter is for being portrayed as not caring about the troops when, in fact, the opposite is true. Massa's husband is a police officer and is also on the front line of protecting our country. As she put it, her daughter is well aware of what is at stake.

Judging from the hate-filled calls and emails Alan received, Massa's daughter seems more sophisticated, more sensitive and more aware of what's happening in our world than much of the FOX audience.

[rachel]

News Hounds
We watch FOX so you don't have to.
July 02, 2004News Hounds Manifesto
Like many projects, this one started out as something else. In early 2004, eight middle-aged citizens from different backgrounds and locations around the USA teamed up via MoveOn.org and the internet (thank you, Al Gore!) to volunteer our services for OUTFOXED, a documentary film by Robert Greenwald regarding Fox News Channel. For approximately three months, each of us watched FNC conscientiously for five or more hours a week and posted our findings regarding FoxÂ’s self-proclaimed mission of fair and balanced reporting.

Appalled by our results, we, who would not meet in person until months later, banded together in cyberspace in concern and outrage over the failure of American media, and Fox News in particular, to relate the news properly. Rather than serve as the publicÂ’s eyes and ears, Fox and other media conglomerates have become echo chambers for the rich and powerful with whom they have become all too cozy. This blog is an attempt to counter that alarming condition. We believe that a viable democracy depends upon viable media. We invite you to join us in our efforts here and elsewhere to make a difference in the future of our country.

We offer special thanks to Robert Greenwald, Laurel Busby, Kate McArdle and the rest of the staff at Robert Greenwald Productions, our wonderful Blogfather Jim Gilliam (voted world's best by news hounds across America), MoveOn.org and Center for American Progress with whom we have felt so proud and privileged to associate. We send you and the rest of the media-watching, listening and reading population our News Hounds shout out.

Our hope is that you will visit this site regularly so that over time you will come to see, as we have, the ways in which Fox News in particular, lies and distorts its "news" reporting and spins in favor of the Republican party. LetÂ’s put the dogs (and a fox or two) in the doghouse where they belong. We have them OUTFOXED!

Disclaimer: This blog belongs to the eight News Hounds who were unpaid volunteer Fox News reserachers for the movie, Outfoxed. We have no ongoing formal association with the movie, MoveOn.Org, Center for American Progress or any other person or entity involved with the film with the exception of Jim Gilliam who hosts and maintains our site.

Reported by ellen at July 2, 2004 12:27 PM

:roll:

[Osiris]

So ok Rachel, you have posted the background of the "News Hounds", now tell me, what does that have to do with what pb has brought to this forum about the situation? Who is telling the truth here, is it the News Hounds or is it Fox?

[pbrauer]

Roll your eyes if you want to Rachel, but Fox and the NY Posts are a pack of liars. This story if true would have made it to the local TV market, it hasn't.
By the way if you get a chance to see OUTFOXED, I highly recommend it. Maybe it will open those rolling eyes. :wink:

[rachel]

That it's a left-wing blog site with a clearly stated agenda, and is associated with MoveOn.org should raise anyone's suspicions. Then follow that up with the how they complain about how FOX "slanted and distorted" the facts, and then proceed to base their whole debunking of FOX's presentation by choosing "one of the sixth-grade Moms" who "told a vastly different story" to quote...thus doing exactly what the author claimed FOX did.

[rachel]

The funny thing is that while ranting about the right-wing media's bias and distortion of facts, the author seems to miss the point that Alan Colmes had a platform from which to present this one mother's side because of FOX! That's right, the network they're accusing of being so biased is the network that presented opposing arguments to their supposedly intentional distortion.

No thanks lesko, just the fact that these idiots were connected to the "documentary" Outfoxed, makes me uninterested...that you recommend it only reinforces that lack of interest.

Anyway, I doubt I need my eyes opened as to anything about a tv news network since I don't watch tv at all.

[Osiris]

the author seems to miss the point that Alan Colmes had a platform from which to present this one mother's side because of FOX!

That is a point I missed also Rachel, however, that does not eliminate the fact that Fox still broadcast items not entertained with complete verification.

In view of the central point of this story, that "children" wrote disparaging letters to GI's about them and their activity in Iraq, would, or rather "should have" sent tremors to get detailed info from the sources rather than to rebroadcast outside claims.

the author seems to miss the point that Alan Colmes had a platform from which to present this one mother's side because of FOX!

Excerpt from pb's link:

Colmes read her daughter's letter which contained no slurs but was very supportive of the troops. The daughter's letter was grossly mischaracterized in the Post as saying that only 50 or 100 soldiers would survive. In fact, she said she feared that only 50 or 100 would survive, that she missed them, that she hoped the soldiers would come home safe and sound. Colmes said that he read every one of the students' letters, that none of them were derogatory to the troops and that they expressed support and sympathy.

As you can see Rachel, it is MORE than just the "mothers side of the story".