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    MEMORANDUM

    Thursday October 23, 2003

    To:     Mullings Advertisers
    From: Rich Galen
    Re:     Suspension of Regular Mullings

    Two weeks ago, I received a call from what we know as a "high administration official" asking me if I would be willing to go to Baghdad to help with the communications effort.

    I, of course, said "yes" immediately.

    My principal duties will involve helping Americans understand better the work which is being successfully accomplished in Iraq.

    As an example, a Civil Affairs Reserve unit from Chicago was recently the subject of a Stars & Stripes article for the work they did rebuilding an elementary school which had been looted and ransacked just off the Baghdad Airport property.

    On the first day of school, the children arrived in their best clothes and took turns thanking the soldiers after which the principal presented the company commander with a bouquet of flowers.

    If I had been on the ground and operational, we would have taken a camera crew to the first day of school, put together a package, and fed it back to Chicagoland TV stations.

    I will be going to Iraq on or about November 3 as a full-time employee of the Department of Defense for a period of between two and four months.

    Obviously, normal Mullings fare would be inappropriate. Further, in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act, while I can be paid for writing generally, I cannot be paid for writing about things which have to do with the job the government is paying me for.

    After consultations with the General Counsel's office at the Pentagon I am going to do the following:

  • I will suspend the three-day-a-week Mullings effective November 1.
  • I will attempt to write Mullings on a once-a-week basis. It will be more in the manner of a Travelogue - highlighting what I have seen during the week and summarizing the stories we covered that week. It will be sent through Focus Data Solutions, but without advertisements.
  • I will suspend subscriptions for the period I am in Baghdad; that is, if I remain in Iraq for three months, a person whose subscription was due for renewal in February would not be due until May.

    • I will be announcing this to my readers next week, although the word is moving through Washington pretty quickly now.

    I want to thank each of you for your support over the years and hope we can pick up where we left off when I return.

    Rich