From Investors Business Daily, April 6, 2005

Question: What does a soldier do when the Army slaps a 45 mph speed limit on U.S. convoys in Iraq?

Answer: Gripe about it in a battlefield blog.

That’s what “Michael,” did in his March 17 Web journal entry from deep inside Iraq:

“Let’s go slower, so the guy just off the road, herding his sheep, can have more time to grab the Nokia in his turban and call the trigger man. The trigger man can then hang up and still have time to speed dial the other Nokia, which is attached to the bomb, before we’re out of range,” he wrote in the entry titled, “Getting A Ticket In Iraq,” posted on his adayinIraq.com blog.

Michael identifies himself as a soldier in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Benning, Ga. In e-mails with this reporter, he says he must remain anonymous.

“This (blog) isn’t so I can criticize the U.S. Army or the United States with impunity, it’s just something I want to do,” he said. “I love the Army and our great country more than most and believe in everything we are doing over here. If I criticize some of the inevitable dumb things that are done in any bureaucracy like the army, it is to vent and have a little fun, nothing more.”

We couldn’t confirm Michael’s identity. The 3rd Infantry is serving in Iraq, and his e-mails and posts ring true.

Complaints are nothing new to soldiers in war. What is fairly new is that soldiers — and pretty much everyone — have an outlet through which to get those complaints out to the world: the Internet, via personal journals called Web logs, or blogs.

Now, the Pentagon faces the ticklish task of deciding whether to censor blogs from GIs.

Close Scrutiny

The blogs can cast the U.S. military in a bad light or, worse, possibly threaten security. But at the same time, soldier-blogs give an unprecedented view of front-line life and could become a source of breaking news.

“My guess is blogs — like every type of new media used by soldiers, sailors and airmen — already are (looked at carefully) by the Department of Defense,” said Christopher Michel, chief executive of Military Advantage, a commercial Web site geared to members of the military and their families. “Like a lot of communications, blogs can cut both ways. The DOD’s main concern is that they don’t compromise security.

“The next news breakthrough in Iraq could be covered by a soldier in the field writing a blog rather than a journalist.”

Over the past two years, thousands of U.S. soldiers have become part of the estimated 8 million people worldwide who are writing blogs.

They use their own laptops or stroll into Army canteens that have Web PCs, visit a free blog-creation site and start typing away.

“The number of soldiers writing blogs continues to grow daily,” said Michael.

Besides “Michael’s” blog, he says another good military blog is the Mudville Gazette, put out by a GI and his wife.

Many blogs are written by troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Observers say the Pentagon is getting more worried that blogs could give advance warning of, say, a secret military operation.

Iraqi insurgents can scan a U.S. soldier’s blog just like anyone with Web access.

Another worry is that some people might intentionally use blogs to give inaccurate information about the morale or behavior of U.S. troops.

Blogs are new, but the basic issue isn’t. During World War II, censors scanned letters sent home by soldiers to ensure they didn’t disclose information that would help enemy spies. Offending passages were blotted out with ink.

The Web ups the stakes, though.

“Blogs are not just being shared with families. They can potentially be shared with and sway millions of people,” said Michel, a former Navy officer who served as a navigator on P-3 Orion patrol planes.

But boosters say soldier blogs are a valuable source of information on the Iraq War.

“We don’t appreciate enough how positive these soldier blogs can be,” Michel said. “They can show how committed the troops are to helping Iraqis rebuild their country.”

Some say soldier blogs perform a valuable public service.

“Blogging troops are not getting paid to ‘spin’ the war. Nor are they worried about losing ad revenue if they tell it like it is,” said Jock Gill, a former “new media” adviser to President Clinton.

“The higher the quality of the feedback our political system gets, the better the chance it has of making appropriate decisions and of avoiding the worst consequences of bad decisions,” Gill said.

No New Rules

The Pentagon, so far, says it’s not taking special steps to limit soldier blogs. Existing rules against disclosing classified data in letters or e-mail are used to cover blogs.

“As with all correspondence, we insist (soldiers) don’t reveal any classified information. But (beyond that), freedom of speech holds true for our soldiers as well as civilian citizens,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Tracy O’Grady-Walsh, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

But some analysts say blogs might face special curbs — and possibly already do face such curbs.

The Defense Department recently disciplined one GI stationed in Iraq, Army Spc. Colby Buzzell, the writer of a blog called “My War,” for unspecified security breaches.

It’s easy to see why the military would be nervous about soldier blogs. For example, there’s GI Michael’s take on the 45 mph speed limit.

“They have to be kidding. My mind is screaming out in agony at the insanity of it all. The level of intelligence around here is so astounding that I never cease to be amazed at the number of masterminds we have in the army,” he wrote.

And the issue of online security extends to private and commercial Web sites run for members of the military or their families.

Several families of Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, for example, have their own Web sites.

The first photos of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s capture in March 2004 were leaked by U.S. soldiers and ran on Michel’s Military Advantage Web site, much to the chagrin of the Pentagon.

“I got a call from a U.S. general in Iraq asking me to take the photos down,” Michel said.

Some of the first photos in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal also surfaced on Web sites for military families. Big news, said Michel, “might surface in an e-mail sent back to the family.”