USE THE TROOPS

Michelle Malkin enthusiastically links this article from the U.S. military's Operation Iraqi Freedom site:

... country singer Chely Wright ... visited Al Asad, Iraq, to entertain and lift the spirits of service members, March 3....

During her overseas tour, Wright visited service members throughout Iraq, Kuwait and Germany....

The night was capped off with the song that made her famous with service members and their families, "Bumper of My SUV." But before starting, Wright explained the meaning behind the song; it was written after a woman pointed to Wrights' Marine Corps bumper sticker, which was sent by her Marine brother, and shouted, "Your war is wrong." ...

The song was followed by a standing ovation from the crowd....

Well, I give Wright a hand for going out to entertain the troops (though a lot of people have done that in this war, including people you might not expect, such as Al Franken). But I'm struck by the fact that Wright seems to have completely overcome this rather embarrassing moment from 2004, which involves that signature hit:

Country singer Chely Wright said yesterday she was dismissing the head of her fan club and shutting down a team of volunteers after The Tennessean learned that some of them posed as members of the military or their families to promote her latest song.

Seventeen members of a handpicked team of fans contacted radio stations around the country asking for more airplay for Wright's pro-military ballad, The Bumper of My SUV. It was all part of an organized campaign by leaders of the fan club who encouraged the team to do such things as ''tell 'em your husband is a marine -- whatever it takes.''

After Wright learned that The Tennessean intended to publish an article about the campaign in today's newspaper, she issued a statement saying that she had dismissed Chuck Walter, a longtime friend who has headed her fan club since 1996.

Wright said she was ''shocked, saddened and deeply upset by this unethical behavior.'' She said Walter was ''an unpaid volunteer who acted without my knowledge or direction.''

In an interview a day earlier, Wright had described Walter as ''my best friend. We talk all the time, about everything.'' ...

So Scooter Chuck took the hit for fakery such as this:

• On Oct. 30, ''Chuck'' said he had called about 40 radio stations under the name ''Sgt. Steve McKay.'' ...

• On Oct. 25, ''Chuck'' suggested fans log on to military message boards and talk up the song. ''You can also fib a little and say you are in the armed forces and how this song needs to be heard -- u get the picture,'' he wrote.

-- and Chely Wright is still out there.

There's also the question of the song itself. The link at the military site says Wright wrote it "after a woman pointed to" her Marine Corps bumper sticker, but the lyrics (available at the last link) say the woman "held up a middle finger at me."

Anyone think that actually happened?