Liberal group wants Iraq access to website restored for military

A
progressive activist group in California is complaining that the
Pentagon has prevented soldiers from accessing its web site in Iraq.

Courage
Campaign, a 700,000-member grassroots organization, has demanded in a
letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that access to its site be
provided before the Nov. 2 Election Day.

{mosads}The
group argues that Californians serving in Iraq who will vote on a
series of ballot measures on Tuesday do not have access to the Courage
Campaign “voters guide,” which might help them make decisions.

The
voters guide on the website offers a series of recommended votes. For
example, it says voters should oppose Proposition 23, which would
suspend a 2006 state law requiring restrictions greenhouse gas
emissions until the state’s unemployment drops. It also recommends
approving Proposition 19, which would allow Californians over 21 years
old to legally possess and grow small amounts of marijuana.

In
contrast, the group said a number of web sites that espouse
conservative views can be accessed on Defense Department computers.

The
Hill independently confirmed that the Tea Party Express site can be
accessed on Defense Department computers while the Courage Campaign
site cannot be accessed. Courage campaign said it has received
information that web sites affiliated with the Traditional Values
Coalition, California Election Forum and Christian Voter Guide through
the Defense Department computers in Iraq.

Courage Campaign acted on a tip from a prospective Californian voter deployed to Iraq.

“It is an enormous problem because the election on California is extremely important,” Rick Jacobs, the founder of Courage Campaign, said in an interview.

Aside
from the ballot measures, California will elect a governor and a number
of House members on Tuesday. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is in a
tough reelection race with Republican Carly Fiorina.

Jacobs said that he considers Courage Campaign’s web site to be an issue- and education-oriented, and not candidate-driven.

“That makes the blocking of our site more frightening,” he said.

The
Courage Coalition’s voter guide “deals with a series of important
ballot measures being considered in California, each of which will have
important implications for Golden State residents on deployment as well
as their families,” Jacobs, who chaired former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean’s presidential campaign in California, wrote in the letter.

Jacobs asked Gates for an answer by Oct. 26 but said he so far has not received one.

Jacobs
also sent the letter to President Obama and several members of the
California delegation, including Boxer, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

So far the grassroots group said it had received no answers. As of press time, the site was still blocked.

It is unclear why the access to the progressive group’s web site is being blocked while other political sites are being allowed.

Defense
Department policy is that government computers “are to be used for
official purposes, in accordance with Joint Ethics Regulations (JER)
governing ethics, security, and bandwidth issues,” said Lt. Col. April
Cunningham, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

Cunningham
explained that outside the specific categories of content prohibited
through this regulation, it is against Defense Department policy to
block a Web site based on the content or points of view expressed on
the site.

“Individuals wishing to view such websites are free to do so on their own time and with their own computers,” Cunningham said.

Under
the joint ethics regulations, communications systems cannot be used for
“pornography; chain letters; unofficial advertising, soliciting or
selling except on authorized bulletin boards established for such use;
violations of statute or regulation; inappropriately handled classified
information; and other uses that are incompatible with public service.”

There are other reasons for blocking access to websites from Defense Department computers, Cunningham explained.

“Websites
deemed to be less than official in nature, in keeping with those
regulations, may be blocked by systems administrators at the local
level,” and not by the Defense Department “at the enterprise level,”
Cunningham added.

On
deployments, commanders can also decide to allow the use the official
government computers “in the interest of morale and welfare” for troops
and other Defense Department civilians.

The
Pentagon in 2007 blocked several heavy-trafficked sites that were using
a lot of bandwidth and were wearing out the networks. Sites impacted
included youtube.com, pandora.com, photobucket.com, myspace.com, live365.com, hi5.com, metacafe.com,mtv.com, ifilm.com, blackplanet.com, stupidvideos.com and filecabi.com .

But
Courage Campaign’s Jacobs refuted any possible issues with the coding
of his organization’s Web site and chalked up the ban on Pentagon
censorship. He said that his organization uses the same software
provider as Obama’s presidential campaign site in 2008, which was not
blocked.

However,
there could be other possible explanations for the blocked site, such
as an automatic filter that sifts through specific words. The Courage
Campaign site uses multiple references to “sex” (as in same-sex
marriages) and “gay” (as in anti-gay, or gay rights). The site also
contains information and action items on the repeal of the military’s
ban on openly gay service members.

Jacobs
said he was concerned his group’s site was blocked when other sites
that attack President Obama, the commander-in-chief, are not blocked.
In the letter, he said his organization is not attacking the president
and “reflects the mainstream views of millions of American
progressives.”