Democracy & transparency: Pentagon internal cencorship

From: Time on line

Military Personnel: Don’t Read This!
How a Pentagon email sought to contain the prison abuse scandal

By VIVIENNE WALT / BAGHDAD

Document: The Pentagon Email

It’s not exactly every day that the Pentagon warns military personnel to stay
away from Fox News. But that’s exactly what some hopeful soul at the Department
of Defense instructed, in a memo intended to forbid Pentagon staff reading
a copy of the Taguba report detailing abuse of detainees at prisons in Iraq
that had been posted at the Fox News web site.

An email to Pentagon staff marked "URGENT IT (Information Technology) BULLETIN:
Taguba Report" orders employees not to read or download the Taguba report at
Fox News, on the grounds that the document is classified. It also orders them
not to discuss the matter with friends or family members. The emailed memo
was leaked to TIME by a senior U.S. civilian official in Baghdad, who did not
hide his disdain for the "factotums" in the Pentagon. "I do wonder how incredibly
stupid some people in the Pentagon are," he emailed TIME. "Not only are they
drawing everyone’s attention to the report - and where it can be seen - but
attempting to muzzle people never works."

Perhaps realizing that, the email’s author in "Information Services Customer
Liaison" said: "This leakage will be investigated for criminal prosecution.
If you don’t have the document and have never had legitimate access, please
do not complicate the investigative processes by seeking information." As the
type-face switched to high-alarm red, the 180-word email continues: "THE INFORMATION
CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS CLASSIFIED; DO NOT GO TO FOX NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN
A COPY."

The memo also contained four tips on how to plug the leaks of explosive prison-abuse
tales. The first is "NOT to go to Fox News to read or obtain a copy" of the
Taguba report. The American official in Baghdad received the email on Friday
from the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Policy team, marked to "MAL POL
ALL POLICY," with a note telling employees that those who have read the Taguba
report on the web should "CALL POLICY IT SECURITY IMMEDIATELY!

10.05.2004
Collective Bellaciao