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PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Tue Aug 23, 2005 at 12:37:58 PM EST
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by TChris

The Bush administration's Pentagon has taken to branding gravestones with one of the PR slogans developed to induce support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq: "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom." The Pentagon claims to give families of the fallen approval over the contents of the gravestones, but that hasn't always happened.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.

"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey said, describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone. "They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me." He said Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked either.

"In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."

The owner of the company that manufactures gravestones for the cemetary at Arlington recognizes how offensive it is for the administration to turn grave markers into a PR ploy.

"It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones," said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

Also concerned is Max Cleland, who accuses the administration of engaging in "a little bit of glorified advertising."

"Most of the headstones out there at Arlington and around the nation just say World War II or Korea or Vietnam, one simple statement," he said. "It's not, shall we say, a designated theme or a designated operation by somebody in the Pentagon. It is what it is. And I think there's power in simplicity."

There's also power in propoganda, and that's what the administration's slogans are all about.

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    PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones | 8 comments (8 topical)
    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#1)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    When i am Dead put on my va gravestone "Had no life but loved the Army"...Long Live the U.S.Army..I loved the old beast. but for real now you got to ask to have something like that put on your Gravestone. and god bless all vet's because American's won't. but remember the guys and girls love you that is why so many die for you. from the low life.

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#2)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    "It seems like it might be connected to politics."
    The sky, similarly, might be blue.

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    Nice to see how this Admin's commitment to not politicizing 9/11 and the deaths of soldiers ended up just as hollow as all of their other promises.

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#4)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    They should say "Operation George's War."

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#5)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    Nixon and Bush Compared While Think Progress notes President Bush is now less popular than President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, Stuart Thiel provides an interesting graph charting the approval rates of both presidents throughout their administrations.
    link

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    Insult to injury. They might as well paint a big Halliburton logo on all these kids' tombstones. But he's a "uniter not a divider".

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#7)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:38 PM EST
    Putting political PR on soldiers gravestones is the least that President Bush can do, given that he doesn't have the time to actually attend any of their funerals (satire alert).

    Re: PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:40 PM EST
    Actually the complete engraving is worded: "Killed by George W. Bush in Operation Iraqi Freedom."

    PR Slogans on Soldiers' Gravestones | 8 comments (8 topical)