November 20, 2004

Memo From The Military: “ACCESS DENIED” to Vdare.com (and LewRockwell.com!)

By Allan Wall

[VDARE.COM note: Allan Wall, our popular Memo From Mexico columnist, is an American citizen who had been living and working legally in Mexico, with an FM-2 residency and work permit and his Mexican wife and two children. But his Texas-based Army National Guard company, composed almost entirely of Americans of Mexican ancestry, was mobilized in August. He may be in Iraq for up to two years.]

Greetings to all my VDARE.com friends and readers. I am currently find myself stationed at "Fort XYZ", stateside, training with my unit for deployment to Iraq.

I am not able to log onto the Internet every day here, but sometimes I get the opportunity. There are several locations here at Fort XYZ that provide internet service.

However, I usually can't enter VDARE.COM. That's because most (although not all) the internet access locations here on post are screened by an information management directorate that blocks access to certain websites—including VDARE.COM. (We’re in good company. I can’t get on to LewRockwell.com either).

And the Internet access location I use the most, which is more compatible with my training schedule, is one of those where access is denied.

So when I type in www.vdare.com and click the button, rather than seeing the familiar VDARE.COM doe, I see a white page, with a blue rectangle on the upper left corner. The rectangle reads "ACCESS DENIED." [Vdare.com note: The most popular supplier of internet censorship products to the US Military is Websense.[Contact them] The same company also services Saudi Arabia, and Communist China.]

That means in the limited times I am able to get on the internet, I'm usually unable to read VDARE.COM.

This is very interesting. Soldiers in the U.S. Army are defending our country. They are subject to all sorts of privations, as they and their families sacrifice themselves for the common good.

Soldiers are entrusted with expensive equipment. They operate military vehicles. They fire weapons, which not only kill the enemy, but can even kill the soldiers firing them or those nearby, if they malfunction or are not used properly.

Soldiers are trained to defend themselves against the enemy, to fight and kill the enemy. They can be sent to exotic countries and placed in harm's way.

But they are not allowed to read VDARE.com.

Soldiers are allowed to defend our country. But those who control the soldier's information apparently don't want soldiers to reflect on the nature of the country that they are defending.

Something about that is too objectionable.

I also noticed that videos of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 were available at the PX here at Fort XYZ.

Obviously, this movie cannot be the favorite of the Bush Administration or of the military leadership.

Nevertheless, it is being freely sold.

Does that mean the authorities believe that soldiers are mature enough to watch the movie and draw their own conclusions?

If so, why doesn't that logic apply to VDARE.com?

[VDARE.COM NOTE: Good question! Ask the Department of Defense—click “17” for Don Rumsfeld. Be polite!]