If he signed them personally, I expect he could be accused of condescension; “Oh, I suppose it’s suppose to make the relatives feel better that he took ten seconds out of his busy schedule to scrawl his name at the foot of a mail-merged form letter, is it?”
Well, he did WRITE the letters personally. That, to me, counts more than signing something that someone else wote.
I don’t know but would guess that he writes the letters, someone prints them probably with the signiture already in place, and then he spproves it.
Slee
And how much actual “writing” do you suppose that takes? I would imagine it’s 90% form letter, at least.
As others have said, if your hand gets cramped from signing condolence letters, it ought to give you pause for thought beyond “Don’t we have a machine that can sign this bumf?”
Well it’s not not OK (intentional double negative).
IMHO he has to help run this was and it is not his job to take time to write out every letter or sign every one.
BUT
In this war we are taking so few causalities compared to other wars that it positive that we are even considering this. For some/most other wars you would need the guy on the payroll full time just to sign his name.
I really opened this thread to quote When the Tigers Broke Free, but I don’t really know whether not signing them is OK.
But changing your mind when the practice becomes public is insulting. To the previous recipients it suggests either that he thought it would do if the general public didn’t know about it or he didn’t think about it.
At the very least he would KNOW how many are dying for his silly plans… the signature isn’t a big thing… but it symbolizes a certain disregard for the soldiers’s puny lives.
If it’s not his job to write and sign these letters, then who should be delegated the responsibility?
We’re not talking over 1000 letters per day. We’re talking maybe a dozen a day, tops. I’m sure the guy signs his name to more memos than that.
Robin
Another example of how hypocritical this administration is. “We support our troops, but if your loved one laid down his life for our foolishness, it’s too much trouble to ask the Defense Secretary to bother signing a form letter.”
I was being facetious.
Unrealistic plans, coupled with a CNC who believed there would be no casualties, to support a war and invasion with absolutely no basis in fact in the real world for going to war.
Like someone else said, at “least” there are not as many casualties here as in other wars, but I don’t recall too many recent dog-wagging wars, either. So someone figured DR could handle it, after all, there probably wouldn’t be many casualties anyway. Where would they get a sample size large enough for anyone ever to know? 1000+ deaths later, well …
As for signature, I sign my name a lot every day, too. But my hand dies after doing holiday cards because I use my “best” signature and not a scrawl. When I go in for Prometric testing, I have to “practice” my “good” signature so I’ll be allowed to take the test.
I can’t imagine DR being any different.
Hell, I notice whether the form letters I get from my credit card company are actually signed by a human or stamped or printed by a machine. When it’s really signed, it gets much more respect from me. Even if it is just nonsense.
Rumsfeld is a lowlife.
Dear lord, I would really hope he doesn’t compose the actual text himself; can you imagine it?
***Dear Bereaved relative
I regret to inform you that we do have certain knowledge that <insert name of soldier> is either missing in action, presumed dead, actually dead, or is otherwise missing for some other reason that we don’t understand at the present time.
There’s another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because we do not have evidence that <insert name of soldier> is actually dead does not mean that we have evidence that he/she is still alive and well…***
The signature should be real. Did you know that Arnold Schwartenegger signs all the diplomas from state colleges? And brags about it.
Assuming an average daily death toll of 5 (five) U.S. military personnel, that works out to an imposition of about 45 seconds of his time, each daily.
Hypothetically, in the time he spends to attend just one star-studded black-tie dinner at the White House, he could knock off the entire bunch of signatures–and still have time for dessert.
What astonishes me is given that these brave men and women have given their lives for this nation, Rumsfeld can’t spend 45 seconds a day to recognize their ultimate sacrifice. Hell, a prayer can last longer than 45 seconds. And Lord knows the man can go on and on and on in a press conference. (And I won’t even talk about the stupidity or pointlessness of the war… :rolleyes: )
Let’s also address another matter of supreme BS. Rumsfeld most certainly does not write the letters, nor did he draft them. He has a huge staff to do this, and no doubt shuffles a dozen or so FORM letters around, to suit each occasion as generically as possible. Anyone with any experience in Washington knows this. The idea that he’d take the time to write a letter, but not sign the letter he has allegedly just written is silly.
For MaNamara–um, Rumsfeld–this war is on auto-pilot.
No way. Do the math. We’re talking about tens of thousands of graduates annually. And remember: he’s a newbie.
Sleestak, I really doubt that he writes the letters himself but I’d be impressed if that were the case. Can you back up that statement?
As for signing the letters,
That doesn’t make much sense to me. Is the letter from the Secretary of Defense the official notification of death? I’d think the family is visited by a serviceperson and chaplain, and the SecDef letter is sent later.
And actually forget about signing the letters, he should be the one to notify the families, again just to remind himself of the cost of the war. I’m not saying he should fly around the country, but certainly he could be personally involved in a few selected cases where the family lives near Washington.
All in all, it says a lot about the man.
Blimy, this joke was old in WW1!
It’s surprising to me that Rumsfeld doesn’t have a letter like the one shown here:
Dear <bereaved relative>:
It is my duty as Defense Chief of these United States of America to inform you:
[ ] of the death of your loved one
[ ] of the capture of your loved one
[ ] your loved one went peacefully to his great reward
[ ] your loved one’s overseas responsibility has just been extended by ____ months
[ ] the kidnappers will be brought to justice by ___ / ___ / ___*
[ ] your loved one gave <his/her> life to ensure global freedom
[ ] your loved one may or may not have deserted
[ ] your loved one’s armored personnel carrier** was attacked
[ ] your loved one’s file is being reviewed under suspicion of once owning a Michael Moore DVD
[ ] OTHER ________________________________________
You will be hearing from a representative from our offices soon. Please do not contact our office directly, as Secretary Rumsfeld will accept no personal calls or faxes during this time of liberation.
Thank you,
Johnny Esparza
Intern, Offices of Secretary Rumsfeld
cc: Donald Rumsfeld’s Secretary’s Assistant Secretary, Jane White
- Dates subject to change or elimination at any time.
** Personnel carrier was, in fact, a 1987 Chevrolet S-10 with corrugated metal sheets roped to each side
I think you slightly missed my point. This war is one of the 1st that this is even practical, maybe Gulf War 1. I am saying that YES he did have the time, but this is not standard operating procedure. I am also saying that it is a good sign that we have so few casulities that we are even talking about this.
Has there been a precident set that the letters are hand signed during times of war (well since we invented auto pen machines)? I don’t know, but if not then this issue seems very politically motivated.
Easily could have, so should have. Nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with dignity and compassion. What was done in past conflicts is not relevant. What is relevant is the feelings of the families of the dead.