login script for every user does not work

I want files to be copied for every user when they log in to RHEL 5 workstation.
I modified /etc/gdm/PostLogin/Default to execute a script.
This script works if run manually in the terminal by a user account after logging in.
However although it appears to be run when they log in, it does not copy the files and I cannot see any reason why. The echo statements were added for debugging and /var/log/login.log shows it is executed when a user logs in except no files are copied to the home directory.
What am I missing here and how can I debug why files are not being copied?

localroot="root"
if [ $USER != $localroot ]
then
 date
 echo "   ---Not root" >>/dev/null
 echo "   ---`date` Not root" >>/var/log/login.log
 if [ ! -d /home/$USER/.mplayer ]
  then
   echo "   ---setting up mplayer PostLogin to /home/$USER" >>/var/log/login.log
   `/bin/cp -Rd /etc/skel/.mplayer /home/$USER/`
   `/bin/chown -R $USER /home/$USER/.mplayer`
  fi
 if [ ! -d /home/$USER/.mozilla ]
  then
   echo "   ---setting up mozilla PostLogin to /home/$USER" >>/var/log/login.log
   `/bin/cp -Rd /etc/skel/.mozilla /home/$USER/`
   `/bin/chown -R $USER /home/$USER/.mozilla`
  fi
else
 echo "   --- ROOT user" >>/dev/null
fi
exit 0

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