The United States Military has censored the blog Think Progress. This coming on the heels of revelations of Democratic lawmakers being slimed in the Green Zone and the silencing of Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp. This is my first attempt at writing a diary here, so I will attempt at keeping it concise and to the point. More below the fold.
The blog Think Progress is reporting that they have been censored by the US Military. Indeed, they were sent the following by one of the soldiers who depended on them, as so many of us do stateside, for information not available in the Main Stream Media. The message was as follows:
Victory Base Complex (VBC) Blue Coat Message
INTERNET USAGE IS MONITORED AND LOGGED!
THE URL WHICH TRIGGERED THIS MESSAGE IS: http://thinkprogress.org/
Access Denied (content_filter_denied)
Your request was denied because of it's content categorization "Political/Activist Groups, Blogs/Newsgroups"
Apparently the ban began shortly after August 22, 2007, when Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste posted an op-ed piece on the site which had been rejected by both the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times. In it he expressed frustration with his own Republican party over the current strategy of American troops being deployed in Iraq.
It is disappointing that so many elected representatives of my [Republican] party continue to blindly support the administration rather than doing what is in the best interests of our country. Traditionally, my party has maintained a conservative view on questions regarding our Armed Forces. For example, we commit our military only when absolutely necessary. [...] In other words, when it comes to Iraq, it’s time for conservatives to once again be conservative.
What will be censored tomorrow? Will we as a citizenry be faced with the same error message: Access Denied. Your request was denied because of it's content categorization. Political/Activist Groups, Blogs/Newsgroups, because there is information out there not deemed suitable for our reading? Would our government withhold information from us? Would our government lie to us?