Gagged by the Clunking Fist

Having allowed the sailors who were captured in Iran to sell their stories the MOD is now gagging the armed services from speaking out about conditions they are serving under. The use of forums, bulletin boards and blogs to do this has been increasing in the past months as conditions and the casualty rates have been increasing.

Let us wonder who might have prompted this "modernised" policy. The great "clunking fist" of Broon seems to be the most likely source as he attempts to control the political quagmire that is Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately for him, the stories and details of what is happening there are more and more coming into the public arena, particularly from members of the armed forces who have served in the area and have returned to the UK, who are passing on details to their friends and relatives. The true extent of casualties is coming out and the conditions and problems they are encountering are becoming well known.

This attempt to gag the Armed Forces will I predict backfire as the feelings in the Services are rising. The ability to post and blog anonymously is rather easy even from Iraq. Expect an increase in blogging from this area.

Update: Also have a look at this link in the Register which has some good comments about the effectiveness of this gagging order.

Update 2: Perhaps the new rules have been put in place because the MOD army of 1000 PR personnel is not quite getting it right and "bad" stories are appearing more frequently.

Also pop along to AARSE for some more discussion on this.

MoD issues gag order on armed forces | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited