It's no secret that the American public has grown increasingly weary of the war in Iraq. The
latest Pew Research polls show that a majority of Americans think invading Iraq was the wrong decision and want to bring the troops home. The international community is now so skeptical of U.S. intentions in Iraq that protests break out if Condoleezza Rice even ties her shoe in another country.
In an attempt to win over hearts and minds, the U.S. military has launched its own
YouTube channel. The videos include footage of an an air strike (seen above), arrests of insurgents and distribution of gifts to Iraqi children, among others. Certainly not all of the clips posted on the military's new
Multinational Iraqi Force (MNIF) channel are recruiting commercials, but video posts will have to follow some ground rules. Expect to see no "profanity, sexual content, overly graphic, disturbing or offensive material, or footage that mocks Coalition Forces, Iraqi Security Forces or the citizens of Iraq."
The military is hoping to increase its presence on the Internet, one place where it's consistently been outpaced by Al Qaeda and other terrorist and extremist groups that use it for organizing and spreading propaganda. The government also sees this as a way to circumvent traditional media outlets, which it accuses of swaying public opinion against the war by showing only overly negative coverage.
Currently, all 26 videos hosted on the MNIF Channel have been shot by cameramen embedded with the army, but soldiers and marines have been invited to submit their own videos for inclusion. Unfortunately, it seems the military isn't aware of its very own, brand new policy
blocking soldier access to YouTube, along with MySpace and 11 other sites.
From
The BBC and
Slashdot Related Links:
Troops Barred From MySpace and YouTube
Army Cracks Down on Soldier Blogs
iPod Stops a Bullet
Losing data without a backup is a painful scenario, but some people have seriously difficult backup scenarios. Case in point: Students in Iraq are using the Internet to back up even more documents: their passports. It seems that there is a disturbing trend where insurgents kidnap students and take -- or destroy -- their passports along with other official Iraqi documentation. 
