Gravestone story: Silly reporting

To the editor:

It was silly to suggest in a recent Associated Press article, "Troops' gravestones have Pentagon slogans'" that the government is inscribing "Operation Iraqi Freedom" on the headstones of service members for political purposes. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for providing headstones for veterans, has always inscribed the names of wars on the headstones of veterans. "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is the official name for the current conflict in Iraq.

At VA, which administers 121 national cemeteries and issues nearly 350,000 headstones for veterans every year, inscriptions are requested in writing by families and signed by their representative. The families decide what is on their loved one's headstone, not the government.

No doubt, if the government refused to inscribe "Operation Iraqi Freedom" on those headstones, we would be charged with trying to cover up casualties. Let's be fair. And let's end silly reporting.

SCOTT HOGENSON, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington.