U.S. military 'shuts down' soldiers' blogs

[Barrett808]

U.S. military 'shuts down' soldiers' blogs
Troops are detailing their experiences in online journals, but military says some are revealing too much
BY JOSEPH MALLIA
STAFF WRITER
January 2, 2006

Letters home filled with tales of death and danger, bravery and boredom are a wartime certainty.

And now, as hundreds of soldiers overseas have started keeping Internet journals about the heat, the homesickness, the bloodshed, word speeds from the battlefront faster than ever.

More and more, though, U.S. military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan are clamping down on these military Web logs, known as milblogs.

After all, digital photos of blown-up tanks and gritty comments on urban warfare don't just interest mom and dad.

The enemy, too, has a laptop and satellite link.

(more)

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-e4572547jan02,0,1655697.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines&track=rss

Families see good and bad in trend
BY JOSEPH MALLIA
STAFF WRITER
January 2, 2006

The whimsical photograph on the blog showed Marine Lance Cpl. Alberto Maldonado in a Humvee, posing with a dashboard figurine of a Hawaiian dancer considered a good-luck charm.

...

But some family members look askance at the Web logs written by soldiers and support the trend toward tighter military control over the blogs.

Diana Boye, of Grand Island, Neb., whose son, Marine Pvt. Noah L. Boye, 21, died in combat in Iraq last year, takes issue with the dark, sarcastic tone of some soldier blogs.

"Those kinds of comments should be between people with their boots in the sand in Iraq, just to get out some tension and stress, and they shouldn't go further than that," Boye said from her home.

(more)

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liside024572548jan02,0,7196369.story

[Hyernel]

1. More of that Freedom Loving...Bushco style.

Since 2000... The actions are the opposite of the words

[mom cat]

16. What do you want anyway? Freedom of speech?

[merwin]

2. So it's OK to be dark and sarcastic, just so long as mom doesn't know?

Funny logic.

[BlueIris]

22. And didn't you just love the manipulative way that insinuation was made?

As if to taunt us--"Think soldiers have a right to free speech? Then you hate this GRIEVING MOTHER."

[NanceGreggs]

3. Maybe BU$HCO should spread their ...

... 'Propaganda Payola' around the US soldiers - you know, a few extra bucks every time you send an email home that starts with:

"WOW, mom and dad! Things are GOING GREAT here!"

Jeez, I'm SO OLD, I remember Freedom of Speech ...

[daleo]

4. For Bush, the enemy is public opinion

They just want to keep the war news as sanatized as possible.

[sweetheart]

12. no, the enemy is the media

public opinion is the force wielded by the media.
(i realize you meant this, but i was compelled)

Bush hates the 4th estate.

[daleo]

13. True enough

Although blogs can get through to the public unmediated by the (corporately owned) media. Still, the media is by far the main greatest factor in shaping public opinion.

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. The enemy is anyone who actively seeks reality.

[sweetheart]

20. The enemy

Is any state of mind where "me-self" is endemic to the frame.
Reality has no "me", only an "I". "me" is the past, all the
ideas and preconceptions up to this point. But now, at this
point in life, you are given a choice,
To choose enlightenment, actively seeking reality until only reality remains.

You are right, "seeking reality", is not reality. It is
more the los angeles version. So in a twist of words, what
you say is really true. It is the mindset of "seeking" that is
derived from imperial mercantile media, that drives citizenship
as a series of "seekings" and "consumer experiences".

After seeking all the reality experiences for infinity of time,
how long before all experience becomes simply tiresome.
In sanskrit, "dukkha", the pain/suffering of simply existing.
So to not seek, is to discover that the being who appeared to
seek was actually an overgrown screaming 3-year old wearing
greater clothing. Seeking leads to expertise, mastery, knowledge
and power. It is the path of mystery, the left handed path, seeking.

Knowledge, pure knowledge, is not seeking. It is stopping.
In that sense, the enemy is the state of mind of seeking.
But that's just between uzz, as individuals truth telling.

[HuffleClaw]

5. i guess 'freedom of expression' only counts for some

but its no surprise.

[Posteritatis]

11. In armed conflict, some restrictions are understandable

But these broad-brush shut-downs are way, way over that line.

[Squatch]

6. I have to disagree with most of you all on this one...

These blogs could potentially represent a threat to Operational Security...namely, troop movement, strength, morale, etc. While I don't think they should be completely banned, I do believe they should be "scrubbed" for operationally sensitive material.

[saigon68]

8. posted on wrong thread

sorry :-)

[Squatch]

9. Say what?

[Posteritatis]

10. To a point, I agree

But only to a point.

In a situation like this it's a definate gray area; anyone saying "tomorrow we're going to 331 Ambush Road to do whatever" obviously needs a good clubbing with the Board of Education. On the other hand, "yesterday we went to 331 Ambush Road to do whatever" would probably be okay, at least IMO; it's not like most of the stuff going on in this war isn't being trumpeted by the media, the Pentagon, or the Iraqi population anyway. The fog of war in conflicts like this isn't nearly as thick as DOD staffers wish it was, to be sure.

The same sort of thing would go for casualties; giving credit where credit is due, they are doing a reasonably meticulous job of reporting losses; WIA and KIA, often down to names, hometowns, and in-action specifics, are usually common knowledge by the time a soldier has the chance to blog about it, or at least they're on the verge of it.

Basically, I'm worried about the fact that stuff like this is happening - not simply that soldiers are being forbidden to blog, either about their actions or in general, while on deployment, but rather that they're being forced to recant and publicly declare loyalty to the Administration as opposed to the Constitution when they're caught for it.

Restrictions for national or operational security are fine, obviously. I have no problem with reasonable limitations on those, considering that peoples' lives actually are at stake. On the other hand, stuff like what I just linked to is over the line by a large, large distance. I would really rather not see things err on the side of excess like that.

Being too lax has its costs, and being too strict has its costs, but the latter worries me more than the former right now.

[henslee]

14. Wonder if the gov. plants fake GI blogs to fake out the enemy... they must

[tabasco]

7. This is an amazing development !

What with all the good news not being reported from Iraq, I figure the Pentagon would want everybody to know what is really going on over there.

Maybe this is just a bureaucratic glitch.

:sarcasm:

[Miss Chybil]

15. Soldiers are supposed to die for freedom - not have it!

Jeez.

/sarcasm

[0007]

18. The Nazi Army was tough on this kind of stuff also.

Throughout last year, the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy tightened control on bloggers by requiring them to register through the chain of command and by creating special security squads to monitor milblogs.

"The ones that stay up are completely patriotic and innocuous, and they're fine if you want to read the flag-waving and how everything's peachy keen in Iraq," said Hartley, who is back in New Paltz after two years stationed in Iraq.

[tuckessee]

21. Not really.

Until the 21 July 1944 Plot, the Germans had much more liberal letter, diary and camera rules than the Americans did then or now in Iraq.

See the book Frontsoldaten by Stephen Fritz published by the University of Kentucky Press or just peruse the ebay listings and compare the content, quality and quantity of German and American WW2 letters & photo albums.

[0007]

23. Are you diddling me? The German would shoot em in a NY Second.

[rainbow4321]

19. Cuz non partisan troops are showing how angry Iraqi civilians are...

The blogs are interfering with chimp's rose-colored PR line of bullshit. What are the repukes going to do? They can't attack the blogging troops like they would the Dems. So the next option apparently is to just shut the blogs down. The below blog excerpt shows Iraqi civilians wanting to re-build their own city and wanting jobs..yet all the $$ is going to chimp's favorite companies.

--------------------------------
http://medicinesoldier.blogspot.com/2005/10/ramadan.html

On my microscopic level, we are able to get out on the ground and talk to the people and learn. We spoke with some men who served in Saddam's army and now are unemployed. They were concerned why they have to be unemployed when there is litter in the streets and poor sanitation and electricity. They are willing to work and there is work to be done in the towns. The interpreter explained to us about the mistrust and low-level corruption. "It's like mafia," he said. In talking to some others citizens, we were told that we (US/Coalition Forces) are not needed here in this town; they trust their local security forces (the Iraqi police and National Guard), but they are happy to see us and see that we care.

[denmother]

24. Where does it say they're angry with the U.S.?

The section you bolded doesn't say anything about anger. But if you were to emphasize another section...

On my microscopic level, we are able to get out on the ground and talk to the people and learn. We spoke with some men who served in Saddam's army and now are unemployed. They were concerned why they have to be unemployed when there is litter in the streets and poor sanitation and electricity. They are willing to work and there is work to be done in the towns. The interpreter explained to us about the mistrust and low-level corruption. "It's like mafia," he said. In talking to some others citizens, we were told that we (US/Coalition Forces) are not needed here in this town; they trust their local security forces (the Iraqi police and National Guard), but they are happy to see us and see that we care.

...that shows that they aren't angry, at least not with the U.S.