I understand the outrage over this story, but I really think it’s counterproductive. A soldier serving in Iraq contacted a mattress company — he wanted to order some mattresses.

From the Fox News story:

“Army Sgt. Jason Hess, stationed in Taji, Iraq, with the 1st Cavalry Division, said he emailed his request to www.discount-mats.com because he and his fellow soldiers sleep on the cold ground, which contains sand mites, sand flies and other disease carriers.”

He got this e-mail response from the Web site:

“We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.”

Crucial bit Fox News hasn’t come across yet: The owner fired the employee who wrote the e-mail.

From another story:

“The Web site’s owner, 23-year-old Faisal Khetani, fired the employee who wrote the e-mail. Khetani told TODAY’S TMJ4 the e-mail does not express the views of his company.

“His father, Ramzan Khetani, told TODAY’S TMJ4’s Mick Trevey that he felt offended by the e-mail saying, ‘whatever the person said - was not fair - should not have said that.’

“The answering machine at the Khetanis’ West Allis home was filled with vulgar messages. One caller ranted, ‘You terrorist-loving jihad mother ((expletive)). This is America you son of a ((expletive)). You get the ((expletive)) out of this country.’

“The Khetanis say they get calls every few minutes from people who feel angry about the e-mail. They also say they received angry phone calls in the middle of the night.

“Trevey asked Ramzan Khetani if his son feels bad that the employee sent the e-mail. Khetani said, ‘Yes, he is feeling bad and he let the guy go so it says how he felt about it.’

“The Khetani family immigrated from Pakistan in 1992. They became U.S. citizens. Ramzan Khetani insisted his family supports the troops in Iraq and feels patriotic about the United States.”

Also, by going to the media, the sargeant got tons of publicity for the little known Wisconsin retailer (heck, I’m from Wisconsin, and I’ve never heard of them). I’d be willing to bet that sales to assorted leftists will go through the roof, even if some potential customers will shy away because of the e-mail.

Bad publicity can hurt a big company, but for an operation this size, any publicity is good publicity.

Michelle Malkin, who’s publicized the incident on her blog and in a Hot Air Internet video, has basically declared war on the company. Good luck with that. Real fair to punish a business for one (fired) employee’s mistake.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com.