Missing the Point

WARNING - THIS IS A SOAPBOX POST

I've tried to avoid getting on my soapbox over here but as I was running the other day, I was mulling a conversation I'd had earlier with the Regimental Public Affairs Officer. He said he'd seen a link to my blog while doing a Google search (sideline - pretty cool that it shows up!) but was unable to view it because it was blocked on his work computer. Earlier in the year, the Army decided that blogs were security risks and published an order that all bloggers had to have permission to host blogs and had to have all content approved by their supervisor. As you might imagine, that order cause quite a stink and created quite a burden on folks who have better things to do here like fight a war. So, the Army, with little fanfare, quit inforcing it's unenforceable rule...or so it seemed.

When I first arrived, I could view blogs on my government computer, but could not log in and had to post remotely via e-mail. Before I got my commercial account set up, I think I mentioned this fact on my post "500" last month. But now, something else has cropped up. Now, blogs can't even be viewed on government computers; they are completely blocked. "Potentially Harmful Content" is the message that appears.

Here's the soapbox part.

There is an active blogging ring over here in Iraq. There are lots of Soldiers and Sailors and Airmen and Marines who want to tell their own story about their part in the war and there certainly seems to be a demand from the American public for just this kind of news (this blog alone, which was started as a way to keep in touch with family and friends, has over 1,100 visitors now in just a few months). The vast majority of bloggers here are telling a positive story, a story that is often missing from mainstream media. I understand that a convoy getting attacked or civilians getting killed is more "exciting," more "newsworthy" than re-opening a school, or repairing potholes, or making a neighborhood safe enough for women and children to walk the streets without fear, but this is the story that we who are here want told. The Army, in it's wisdom, is making it more and more difficult for the average Soldier to tell the average American about the good work he/she is doing here. Now that government systems completely block blogs, the Army has unwittingly, or wittingly perhaps, established a class division where only those of us who have the means to have personal computers can post and read blogs about events here that shape all of our lives. The average story-teller has so many barriers in his/her way, that he/she gives up and their voice isn't heard. The Army should embrace blogging - these are good stories, the "why we fight" stories of past generations. There is good work happening every day that doesn't make the front page of the newspaper or the 30 second clip on the evening news. And the Army is missing the point!

Off my rambling soapbox now.

Cheers, Pearl