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

[sweetm2475]

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.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-e4572547jan02,0,959146,print.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Yeah, that'll work well

There will be fewer milblogs, but their writers will use better methods to conceal their identities.

AND, more people will read them, with more interest.

Nobody particularly was interested in dead soldiers coming home in boxes, either, until Team Bush decreed that no civilian should ever see it. So the consequences of Bush's Folly should be hidden.

That's worked out well, too.

--p!

[zapp]

2. Free Speech takes another hit!

Though the Gubamint always clamps down on soldier communication.

[mitanni]

3. No offense

But OPSEC is very important, a few milbloggers already got caught posting classified info. I shut mine down while in Iraq because my chain of command was concerned that me, an intel analyst would accidentally give something away.

[Geek_Girl]

5. Welcome to DU Mitanni

:hi:

[bryant69]

6. This is one of the problems with the current climate

We have such a dishonest administration, that even legitimate concerns are problemattic because we basically don't trust the people in charge.

Or to put it another way, this is an adminsitration who didn't care about security when it came to Valerie plame, but damn sure cares about it when it might make them look bad.

The solutino isn't that we shouldn't care about security (we should) but that they should too.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[sweetm2475]

7. I was in the military too...

My husband still is. You can allow soldiers to express their thoughts. It's simple. Screen the blogs (which they already do) block out any info that could hurt security, and leave the rest. But don't shut down the whole blog.:eyes:

[oasis]

12. A toast and a tip of the hat to both of you.

:toast::party: :patriot:

[oasis]

8. Welcome and thanks for your service.

:patriot:

[sweetm2475]

10. thanks!

:toast:

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. That will boost morale! n/t

[PWRinNY]

9. Unbelievable

So much for democracy and all the rights they lay their lives down for.

[madeline_con]

11. So, they'll just blog elsewhere. eom