Succinct Thoughts On CPIC & Lt.Col.Barry Johnson, and Censorship

Updated & Related: Blackfive reveals how the US Army is Watching Bloggers.
Perhaps if the DOD spent more time and resources watching our enemies rather than censoring...errr watching milbloggers and embeds.... we might finally win this war!

From Uber Pig who writes at Enlisted Swine:

I have no idea how Walt Gaya, who you can read about here, could be denied embed status by any American military PAO. That really just smacks of incompetence. And Mike Yon may not always have nice things to say about the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he's honest, which is a huge step forward from what we're getting from so many of the MSM prostitutes. Mike is nobody's bitch, though, so I wonder if part of the problem with LTC Johnson is that he just rubbed him the wrong way and wouldn't suck officer cock when he unzipped and flopped it on the table. Well fuck you, buddy: Mike Yon is more effective doing what he does, the way he wants to do it, than most of the military's public affairs officers combined.

Uber Pig's bio describes him as : 1st Platoon, A Co., 2/75 Ranger 92-93 G3 Plex, I Corps 93-94 1st Bde., 25th Infantry 94-96

And from the Chicago Sun Times, October 16th edition comes a piece titled" Frontline Journalists Fading Away"

The number of embedded journalists reporting alongside U.S. troops in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level -- 11.

During the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, more than 600 reporters, TV crews and photographers linked up with U.S. and British units.

''This is more than pathetic,'' said Sig Christenson, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and president of Military Reporters and Editors.

''It strikes me as dangerous'' for the American public to get so little news of their military, he said.

The story claims that that local Commanders have the final say in accepting an embed. Perhaps so, but that doesn't explain why, when both Mike Yon and Walt Gaya were extended numerous offers to embed, CPIC under Lt.Col. Barry Johnson, continously denied them the right to embed, based on lies that were created by Lt.Col. Johnson, and continued to deny them embeds even after those lies were countered and proven to be false. CENSORSHIP comes in many forms:

The Associated Press' Antonio Castaneda wrote about violence in Dora, a Baghdad neighborhood. ''The day after the Dora story was printed, I was visited by a soldier who delivered the message that my coverage was disproportionately negative,'' Castaneda said. His requests for more embeds in the Baghdad area were ignored until a senior U.S. officer interceded.

Related:
On Censorship, CPIC &Lt.Col.Barry Johnson
Open Letter To Lt.Col.Barry Johnson, CPIC
Frontline Journalists Fading Away
Blackfive: US Army Watching Blogs