Blogging From the Frontlines

Blogging is the internet’s greatest gift to free speech. However, as is the case with all free speech, there’s always someone watching to make sure you don’t get out of line, especially now with the Patriot Act.

I’m lucky. I get to rant and rave and nobody has tried to shut me off yet, but that is not the case with Leonard Clark, a 40 year old Arizona National Guardsman in Iraq, who was demoted from Specialist to private first class and made to pay a fine of $1,640 for allegedly publishing "classified" military information on his blog.

Clark has been slapped with a gag order, and his blog has been erased for supposedly violating two articles from the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which prohibits the dissemination of information about troop movement and location, soldier attacks or military strategy. "The intent of the policy is not to violate soldiers' rights, but to safeguard soldiers," said Col. Bill Buckner, a spokesman for the Multi-National Corps-Iraq. But was Clark operating under the intention of harming the troops? One would think that the inclusion of such information was not done with malicious intent or probably even knowingly. Why not just have Clark remove the information in question? Why delete every single entry?

This all seems extremely fishy, especially in light of the fact that Clark is opposed to the war, and according to General Wes Clark’s progressive Organization WesPac, maintained a blog so that he could keep friends and family informed about the "reality on the ground there." Could it be that this anti-war progressive, who ran on the Democratic ballot for Arizona Governor, is being targeted solely for telling a truth the U.S. military doesn’t want American’s to know?

The military refuses to reveal what Clark wrote on his blog that has caused all of this commotion and claims that the investigation is ongoing.

To get a better feeling for Leonard Clark, you can read some of his letters by clicking on Mail From the Frontline.

Sources: "Army punishes soldier for blog posts," www.news.com"Arizona National Guardsman Leonard Clark Demoted and Fined for Posting Classified Content on His Blog," www.blogsofwar.com