Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, has been using a machine to sign letters of condolence to the relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq, it emerged yesterday.

In a statement to the Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper, he conceded that he had not 'individually' signed letters to the families of more than 1,300 war dead. He said it had been his wish to speed up the process. He added: 'I have directed that in the future I sign each letter.'

His statement follows a flood of complaints to the paper from bereaved families, accusing 72-year-old Mr Rumsfeld of high-handedness and disdain for their loss.

Army Specialist Ivan Medina, whose twin brother was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq this summer, said: 'To me it is an insult, not only as someone who lost a loved one but as someone who served in Iraq. This does not show our families the respect they deserve.'

The issue was exposed by David Hackworth, a retired colonel. He incurred Mr Rumsfeld's ridicule during the invasion of Iraq when he said, only days before Baghdad fell, that the mission had become a quagmire. But 20 months later, as American forces struggle to control the rebellion by guerrilla fighters, he and other Rumsfeld critics are finding their voice again.

He said: 'One father bitterly commented that it was a pity that Mr Rumsfeld could keep his squash schedule but could not find the time to sign his dead son's letter.'"