David H. Hackworth reports that Don Rumsfeld and George W. Bush may have found a way to further insulate themselves from the deaths of our soldiers- using an autopen to sign letters to grieving families.

And now, apparently, Rumsfeld’s obsession with machines and their efficiency has translated into his using one to replace his own John Hancock on KIA (killed in action) letters to parents and spouses. Two Pentagon-based colonels, who’ve both insisted on anonymity to protect their careers, have indignantly reported that the SecDef has relinquished this sacred duty to a signature device rather than signing the sad documents himself.

[…]

Dr. Ted Smith, whose son Eric was among the first 100 killed in Iraq, notes that the letter he received from the commander in chief was signed with a thick, green marking pen. I thought it was stamped then and do even now. He had time for golf and the ranch but not enough to sign a decent signature with a pen for his beloved hero soldiers. I was going to send the letter back but did not. I am sorry I didn’t.

More about the Autopen machine:

Autopen signatures have a couple of giveaway flaws: First, they are often done in Sharpie, which hides the fact that the machine signatures are of a consistent line width from beginning to end, due to the unchanging pressure– not often the case with actual signatures, which will show some variance of line width, particularly at the end of strokes. Indeed, autopens will often show a wider spot, or “dot” at the beginning and end of the signature, where the pen was placed on the paper, and where it stopped and was lifted off the paper.

Second, autopenned signatures will be EXACTLY the same every time, from a given matrix. This is sometimes disguised by movement (intentionally or not) of the paper. Still there will be the same spacing, height of letters, length of signature, etc. Autopens can be sniffed out and confirmed if two signatures are identical. Humans aren’t that precise. It’s impossible for a live person to generate identical signatures even if they try.

Here are some samples of GWB’s autopenned signature from Stephen Beck’s site: