Fear and Loathing in Iraq meets the Army censor

I have been reading a blog by a soldier in Iraq since early this month, "MY WAR: Fear and Loathing in Iraq." The soldier uses the blog handle "CBFTW" rather than his name. The blog has been up only since June 21, and it is so vividly written, giving such a sense of gritty immediacy that I have read all the posts back to the beginning.

Unfortunately, lots of other people have been reading and spreading the word, which word apparently spread to the commanders in Iraq. The soldier's CO called him in and told him to clear his blog with his platoon leader. The entries slowed markedly after that, and lost some of their spontaneity. Then NPR did a feature on soldier blogs, prominently mentioning CBFTW and apparently the excrement hit the rotary ventilation device. There were only a few entries after that, and then today the blog has only a quote from Johnny Rotten at the last Sex Pistols' concert: "Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?" At the top of the blog cover, the heading now reads, "Over and Out."

All the previous entries, all the archives, have been wiped. Interestingly, the NPR story on their website has been edited to remove the soldier's real name, replacing it with his blog handle. Something is going on behind the scenes here. CBFTW is keeping a journal of unlogged writings, so I hope that eventually he will publish once he is out of the army and safely home. May that day come, and soon.

Below is the link to the NPR story online:

Soldiers' Iraq Blogs Face Military Scrutiny

P.S. at least as of a few minutes ago, the audio clip of the NPR original story had not been edited to remove the soldier's real name.