CNN reports tonight that a sicko has targeted military families in a cruel hoax. An unidentified man has dressed up as an Army officer on at least one occasion to notify a military wife of her husband's death in Iraq, but she was smart enough to see through the ruse:

Military police are investigating a cruel hoax in which a man wearing an Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier that her husband had been killed in Iraq.

Investigators are trying to determine why the man delivered the false death notice and whether he was a soldier or a civilian wearing a military uniform. ...

"Right off the bat, she noticed some things were not right," Whetstone said. "The individual's uniform wasn't correct -- there were no markings or name tags. Plus, the person was alone, and she knew one person does not make (death) notifications."

Whetstone said no similar hoaxes have been reported.

This hoax reminds us, and CNN, of the series of phone calls received by Fort Stewart families from unidentified callers doing much the same thing. Since then, the military briefs the families of those who get posted overseas to make sure they can distinguish the hoaxers. That briefing allowed the unidentified family to realize the man was a phony.

It's hard to imagine the depravity that could cause people to perpetrate such a disgusting fraud. Those who get some sort of thrill from causing grief and misery of those who serve our nation through a spouse or child stationed overseas represent the lowest of the low, a moral devolution so profound that decent people simply cannot grasp the boundaries of its stench. We certainly hope that this incident represents the soullessness of a single deranged individual and not the concerted effort of radical leftists dedicated to undermining the morale of the American military.

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