Many of you who follow the MILBLOGS
ring are aware of cbftw, a young soldier who writes "My War
."
If you've been following his tale, you've read
some amazing things from a guy who's "in it." You're probably also aware that
his chain-of-command is now aware that he's blogging, and has set some
parameters for him to stay within.
Nor do I blame him. He
started small, wrote compelling stuff and suddenly exploded into the
consciousness of the
blogo-collective.
Greyhawk points out that NPR (oh, God - don't let him get started again,
not that!) has discovered cbftw and declared him a member of the oppressed
class:
CBFTW says he
has avoided describing sensitive information, such as U.S. weapons capabilities,
weaknesses and scheduling. But earlier this month, CBFTW was lectured by
commanders about violating operational security. Two other popular blogs run by
soldiers have been shut down
recently...
... some
critics worry that military officials are trying to muffle dissent from troops
in the field. "I really think it has much less to do with operational security
and classified secrets and more to do with American politics and how the war is
seen by a public that is getting increasingly shaky about the overall venture,"
says Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in
Washington.
Hmmm.
Maybe.
But kids are dieing out there,
and it would be a poor commander indeed, who once aware of the fact that someone
from his unit was posting info into the everywhere, didn't take it upon himself
to ensure that his guys weren't indavertantly contributing to the slaughter.
OPSEC is a commander's
responsibility.
I don't deny that
there are any number of deficient officers or NCO's in the world that would love
to suppress things which cast themselves in a negative light. And if the army
was anything like the Navy, it wouldn't be hard to find a creative, intelligent,
discontent soul who thought the entire amalgamation of organization, mission and
leadership was a bunch of horse fewmets.I just haven't seen anything serious
along those lines from cbftw. He's just a young man doing a hard job in a
difficult situation.
It just seems
passing strange to me that NPR, given the opportunity to choose between two
equally likely (let's be generous) scenarios: 1) That the military cares for all
it's soldiers, and wants to keep them safe, against 2) That we're all a bunch of
hyper-sensitive Captains Queeg who'll brook no dissent, finds it worthwhile to
highlight the more ominous
option.
Sometimes a cigar is just a
cigar.
Posted @
07:30 PM
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Posted in
""
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Sendit
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Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
