Michael Yon threatened with expulsion by a general
Austin Bay (Hat tip: Jules C)

This is stupid. Michael Yon and Bill Roggio are the best out there. Telling Michael Yon to exit the theater is the WWII equivalent of telling Ernie Pyle to quit filing dispatches.

Everyone knows the PAO system has never been much more than mediocre — I’ve met some very smart public affairs officers and non-coms, but the system is inadequate, at times inept. Now Yon says someone wants to kick him out of Iraq. Tut. At a Pentagon lunch last fall General Pace mentioned to me the importance of milblogs. I then told him the word circulating the blogosphere was that the Army wanted to limit milblogs. Yes, there is an OPSEC argument, but read the milblogs. The soldiers posting know about OPSEC. Pace told me he would look into the rumor. No, I never heard back. I suggest that General Pace look into this report from Yon.

Here’s the punch paragraph on Michael’s post: ...

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FOXNews has a little sample of the sort of writing we'll be losing here. Mike's email (you can add yourself to his list at his site) yesterday promised a major dispatch soon, which I don't think referred to the FOX thing. I'll keep an eye out.

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Why Is CENTCOM Kicking Michael Yon Out Of Iraq?
Ed Morrissey

Michael Yon has provided some of the best reporting on the ground in Iraq. He embeds with the troops, reporting honestly on the ups and downs of our efforts there. He has proven himself courageous under fire and keeps returning to give Americans a clear view of the status of our mission. Now, however, Yon may find himself booted out of Iraq:

A general emailed in the past 24 hours threatening to kick me out. The first time the Army threatened to kick me out was in late 2005, just after I published a dispatch called “Gates of Fire.” Some of the senior level public affairs people who’d been upset by “Proximity Delays” were looking ever since for a reason to kick me out and they wanted to use “Gates of Fire” as a catapult. In the events described in that dispatch, I broke some rules by, for instance, firing a weapon during combat when some of our soldiers were fighting fairly close quarters and one was wounded and still under enemy fire. That’s right. I’m not sure what message the senior level public affairs people thought that would convey had they succeeded, (which they didn’t) but it was clear to me what they valued most. They want the press on a short leash, even at the expense of the life of a soldier. ...

Does the Army want to build honest support for the mission here at home? Or would they rather play bureaucratic games with one of the few journalists willing to go wherever our soldiers go? Someone needs a reality check at CENTCOM. ...

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The Silencer 
Confederate Yankee

This is U.S. Army General Vincent K. Brooks.

He might look familiar as the man once known as the "the face of the U.S. military" for his role as spokesman for U.S. Central Command during the beginning of the Iraq War, He was the former chief PAO (Public Affairs Officer) of the US Army. He is currently the deputy commanding general - support for Multinational Division-Baghdad.

Vincent Brooks is also the general that has just threatened to kick Michael Yon out of Iraq.

[...]

Brooks was chief PAO when the miltary wanted to kick Yon out of Iraq in 2005 over his the "Proximity Delays" and "Gates of Fire" dispatches, and apparently Brooks still harbors a grudge. Now that Yon finds himself in Brooks' territory again, it appears he has taken special interest in trying to kep Yon from doing his job. ...

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Tabula Rasa
Michael Yon

From Baghdad
Recent mention of cooperation with Fox News kicked rumor into high gear, leading some long-time readers to lament my “selling-out” to a major outlet. Simultaneously, thousands of new readers via the Fox website have little idea why my work suddenly is featured there. This dispatch will hopefully quell both concerns. My website and Iraq coverage remain independent of all financial support save that of my readers.

Here’s a brief on how I became witness to this war: ...

Read the whole thing, folks. This is the voice they're trying to silence.

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Don't miss Ed Driscoll's excellent post here.

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Terresa Monroe-Hamilton at Noisy Room just posted a great letter from "Confederate Yankee" Bob Owens. I'd considered posting it earlier but waited in hopes he'd take my suggestion to post it on his site:

I’m writing to you today to ask you to help support Michael Yon, the former Green Beret turned independent combat journalist, currently in Iraq. As noted by Instapundit Glenn Reynolds and Austin Bay last night, Yon has been threatened with expulsion from Iraq by an Army General:

[...]

The General who wanted to silence Yon in 2005 was Brigadier General Vincent K. Brooks, then the lead Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for the United States Army. The stories that got Yon in trouble with Brooks: Proximity Delays and Gates of Fire. Proximity Delays got Yon in trouble, and in Gates of Fire, Yon picked up a rifle and joined combat to help LTC Erik Kurilla, who had been shot three times by an insurgent while CSM Robert Prosser was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with another insurgent. For inserting himself into battle (which violated embed rules) to help fallen American soldiers, and then having the gall to write about it, Brooks tried to kick Yon our of Iraq.

Brooks is back in Iraq, this time as deputy commanding general - support for Multinational Division-Baghdad, and he still obviously carries his grudge against Yon. I confirmed last night with Michael Yon that it is this same General Vincent K. Brooks that sent Yon the email threatening to kick him out of Iraq.

I don’t think I need to tell you how important Yon’s reporting is. He has been favorably compared to WWII’s premier combat correspondent Ernie Pyle, in part because Yon, like Pyle, is brutally honest in his reporting. When he sees problems he reports them, and when he sees progress, he reports that as well. Yon has, if I am correct, spent more time embedded in U.S. combat units in Iraq than any journalist for any news organization. Period. He plans to spend the next year on the ground with our soldiers in Iraq. He braves bullets and IEDs with our troops out on patrol, and was once targeted to be kidnapped and killed by insurgents because of his reporting. Through it all, Yon has pushed on, and now a General on our side appears to be trying to silence him. ...

Read the whole thing.