Newspaper Fell for Fake Iraq Story

[rodeodance]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003254873

Newspaper Fell for Fake Iraq Story



Published: October 14, 2006 9:25 AM ET

HUNTSVILLE An Ohio soldier who claimed she joined the Army after her daughter was hurt in Iraq made up the story, the Army confirmed Friday.

A spokesman said the military discovered that Pfc. Cindra Smith's daughter had never been in the service, as Smith first publicly claimed in a story that appeared in a newspaper at Redstone Arsenal, a base in north Alabama.

That story led to a piece in The Huntsville Times, and the Times story was distributed by The Associated Press to newspapers across Alabama and Ohio.

Smith, of Xenia, Ohio, 15 miles east of Dayton, was 39 when stories appeared earlier this year, and fellow soldiers called her "Grandma" because of her age. She claimed she wanted to be trained to disarm bombs in Iraq like one that seriously injured her daughter.........

[rfranklin]

1. The army loved that story because...

it encouraged parents to replace their wounded or killed kids on the line.

[Hepburn]

2. Can we all say.....

......JESSICA LYNCH???