Eighty Deuce put on Hold [Updated]

A picture of Cpl Watson from his blogspot profile

One US military blogger suspends operations for now.

"Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq" is a blog written by Corporal Ed Watson, who also goes by "AirborneParaInf82". He was recently forced by his commanders to suspend his website, and for the time being all his previous articles have been deleted, with an explanation on the front page.

As a military blogger myself, I can sympathize somewhat. The US Department of the Army recently issued some new rules for bloggers, and frankly some of them don't make a lot of sense. This is one reason why I started this weblog just after I returned from Iraq. Even so, the point is not to censor soldiers as some irresponsible pundits have claimed. The problem is operational security.

The Army Times article above gave an example of what happens when mortars hit: if a blog gives a description of where they landed, the terrorists could adjust fire and hit a better target next time. Of course this isn't very likely to happen, and I'll explain why. It assumes that someone who found the blog is working for the insurgents and can understand English and military terminology. It also assumes that he believes the information on the blog. Then this insurgent would also have to be the same one that fired the mortar that day, and can recognize that the soldier was talking about his own attack. Alternatively, it could be another insurgent who reads the blog and then goes and tells the mortar guy, but since the Iraq terrorist networks are so complicated, convoluted, and normally fighting one another, the chances of him knowing/finding that mortar guy are about a million to one.

Another example could be a description of a destroyed vehicle; if the insurgents knew how well a particular IED worked, they would replicate the effect. But insurgents generally know anyway. They usually have someone watching the scene and observing the aftermath, sometimes putting the attack on videotape. They also have informants in the Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army who also tell them of how well attacks in Iraqi forces turned out.

Still, in the end, it is better to be too safe than not enough. Certainly security of our forces far outweighs a soldier's right to run his web site for awhile. However, the rules as written, are simply unworkable. If you take it by the letter, they require commanders to review every blog post, blog comment, and particularly, every email that soldiers send to their families at home, which as a practical matter is impossible, and therefore, it is not being enforced. And given that the content of many emails between soldiers and their spouses/girlfriends is heavily personal and/or erotic, it would be beyond the pale to require commanders to read them. In fact, requiring a female commander to read the letters I sent to my wife could quickly result in a sexual harassment charge against me!

Another wild card is the telephone. Anything that I can put in a blog or email, I can say on the phone when I call home. Sometimes, base commanders will shut down all phones and internet for a little while after a soldier is killed; but the intent here is very different. The reason is to make certain that family members don't hear rumors from someone else before the Army has had a chance to notify them officially. Still, even this can be circumvented, since cell phones can't be shut down and many soldiers carry them in Iraq now.

Just some observations about the picture: Note his hand is covering his rank and name (I just used a low-res photo instead). His uniform looks very clean, and you don't see buses that nice in Iraq. The sand on the ground is also a little too smooth. I'm guessing this picture was taken when he just landed in Kuwait, before his unit moved north.

Update 6/05/2007 07:44:00 PM: Just to be clear, I fully understand why Cpl Watson's blog was suspended, but the military is going to have to come up with a more realistic and comprehensive system, rather than slapping these types of sites down when they find them. Here's a solution at least worth experimenting with - how about running some misinformation blogs? Set up some blogs, purportedly run by soldiers, direct traffic to them (especially from IP addresses in Iraq) and deliberately write false blog posts to mislead the enemy about our Iraq planning. New technology, new war, require new adaptations. It's worth trying.

Update 6/06/2007 11:54:00 AM: "Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq" is back online! Check it out. Also, I got a comment from Cpl Watson himself in the comments section.





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