Second Military Ban on Soldiers' Communication Raises Questions

May 14 (EIRNS) - In the second such action of this type within weeks, the US military today reportedly banned soldiers use of popular YouTube and MySpace posting sites, after previously banning soldiers access to blogs. The new ban extends to 11 additional sites, and, although it applies only to access from military networks, for some soldiers, especially in Iraq, it is all they have. Interestingly, the ban does not apply to gaming sites, which calls into question the cited reason for the ban, which was limited bandwidth, something online gaming heavily relies on.

While one of the unstated reasons for the ban would be to censor content embarrassing to Washington, one source told EIR that moves like this often presage major military actions. If true in this case, that action would likely involve a move against Iran.