Why Is CENTCOM Kicking Michael Yon Out Of Iraq?

Captain's Quarters ^ | 23 MARCH 2007 | Ed Morrisey

[radar101]

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. Some readers might recall that LTC Barry Johnson denied my embed requests in 2006, but after I wrote “Censoring Iraq,” somehow the door opened up. Strangely, a couple days ago, LTC Barry Johnson invited me to be a panelist at a symposium in Washington D.C. on ”the role of blogs and bloggers in the news environment today. The intent is to help PAOs better understand the issues involved.” Call me suspicious, but my whiskers tingled on that one.

Colonel Austin Bay says it best:

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. 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. (via Shaun Mullen at TMV)

[radar101]

http://noisyroom.net/blog/?p=17631

General Brooks tries to Silence Michael Yon
Posted By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton @ 12:40 pm. Filed under Politics, Middle East/Terrorism
Courtesy of Confederate Yankee:

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:

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.

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.

I don’t think anyone will dispute that the terrorists in Iraq are convincingly beating us in the media war, and Yon’s front-line writing has been one of the few bright spots in the coverage of this war in the western media. That vital reporting is now under assault by a General that is apparently threatened by Yon’s honesty.

Michael has been stuck in a U.S. base for over a week now. I strongly feel that Brooks is behind Yon’s “grounding,” and the threatening email he sent Yon seems to strongly support that contention.

I’m asking you to help turn up the heat on General Brooks and the U.S. Army, so that Yon can continue to bring us dispatches from the front line. Please consider writing about this attempt at censorship by General Vincent Brooks.

If there is any information I can provide you to help write your story, if you choose to write one, please let me know.

Don’t let one of the best combat reporters of our generation be silenced by a General with a grudge.

http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/220053.php

Sincerely and Respectfully,

– Bob Owens
Confederate Yankee Blog

[Mathews]

Yon is the best. He tells it like it is and doesn't hold anything back. Lefties want him out because he is telling the truth. He doesn't stay in the Green Zone. He's out humpin' and thumpin' with our Soldiers. Friggin' buttheads need a cranalrectal reversion.

[radar101]

DAMN STRAIGHT!

[o_zarkman44]

Most of the MSM weasel press has been reporting a selective amount of negative news, and a miniscule amount of positive news.
Any journalist who breaks the rules or compromises the safety of our troops is not worthy of the inbedding.
He was warned once about his actions. He knew the consequences of repeat offenses.

Should we feel sympathetic? No.
When these so called journalists start telling the complete story instead of selective reporting of confrontational journalism we will have better reporting.

[pissant]

This is so stupid, it's breathtaking.

[Wisconsin]

let them know what you think:

cpicpressdesk@iraq.centcom.mil

[PGalt]

?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805755/posts

[pissant]

I will, as should everyone here.

[Cicero]

This is so stupid, it's breathtaking.

Snafu.

[McGavin999]

Better than that, we all need to be writing to the White House and letting Dubya know what General Brooks is doing. He could notify Brooks' superior officer and get it taken care of right away.

[radar101]

A PHOTO BY MICHAEL YON

[SevenMinusOne]

This is so stupid, it's breathtaking.

Is that not the truth!

We could not F'up the PR aspect of this WOT anymore if we're trying to! (and at times it seems like we are doing exactly that....trying to F it up).

[irish guard]

Ping....odd and curious.

[centurion316]

Vince Brooks has had a very successful military career, by anyone's account. I saw the traits of character and behavior that drove this success very early on - when he was a cadet at West Point. Cadet Brooks was the very model of a professional: sharp, articulate, disciplined. He was also very deferential to those in authority. He let you know, that if you were the boss, he was going to support you and be a team player. You knew that if you wanted something done, Brooks was the man to get it done the way you wanted.

I say this just to point out that while Brooks may have a vendetta against Yon, I doubt it. I think the answer may lie elsewhere.

[radar101]

Oh, so you want the MSM "Journalists" who don't leave their hotel in the Green Zone, and who pay questionable sources for stories to give us our news?

[Wiz]

ping

[FredHunter08]

"Any journalist who breaks the rules or compromises the safety of our troops is not worthy of the inbedding. "

Don't know much about Michael Yon, do you? What he's written about or what his background is?

Could you stand by and watch an American serviceman be killed or would you pick up a weapon to stop it?

[Charlespg]

He saved some guys life and this general wants to kick him out of Iraq?

where in hell did this general get his commission, out of a box of captain crunch? must be a Clinton appointee

[FredHunter08]

"where in hell did this general get his commission, out of a box of captain crunch? must be a Clinton appointee"

Is it the fault of General Brooks or is it the fault of those higher up?