That BBC report kind of waters it down. Editors didn't see identical phrases, they saw identical letters. It was not a sample letter, it was not a newsletter, it was a form letter with only the names & hometowns changed. Read the article under the Gannett link, it has more comments from the people who actually signed the letters. It was a letter they were given & asked to sign. Maybe different units handled it differently, as some were forwarded by parents while others were mailed directly to local newspapers by or for the servicemen.

The Utica newspaper says they called the parents of the signee to verify information. It was caught by a newspaper that got 2 copies signed by different people.

From most of the reports I've looked at, I was inclined to see it as an over-zealous commander. The Washington Post puts it in a larger context of Bush trying to get his side of the story directly to the American people. A Google News search is interesting. As I've been following this thread, the headlines are getting stronger:
US Army sent fake Iraq letters
Bogus Letters From the Battlefield Cast Doubt on Bush ...
IRAQ LETTERS OF MASS DECEPTION
Army spin exposed by fake letters from troops

Most of these are foreign headlines.