Army Times has discovered that soldiers are blogging.

DENVER — With the world being bombarded by all factions on their side on the war in Iraq, U.S. soldiers Internet blogs provided the kind of public relations Madison Avenue would drool over.

Soldiers told of helping Iraqi families, the loss of friends and their dangerous daily missions.

It’s a normal human function to try to talk through episodes of happiness and pride, or even grief and anguish. We all do it in some way.

However, as the head of the article shows:

Troop blogs show increasing criticism of war

In the past year, as soldiers and Marines return for the second, third or even fourth deployments, and the death toll approaches 4,000, some soldiers began questioning the war.

Again, a normal human reaction. They don’t like going back again and again, to the daily stress and dangers of trying to pacify a resistant population – especially in that summer heat. Of course flag officers don’t quite understand this since they have what we might call a “limited exposure to risk.” But they do have a solution to trooper unrest over the turnstile rotations back to the sandbox.

At the very least they risk administrative punishments, called Article 15s, though if it has happened it has been kept quiet.

“The toothpaste is out of the tube. And, try as they might, the military’s information nannies are not going to be able to stuff it back in,” said Noah Schatman of Wired Magazine in an e-mail from Taji, Iraq. He said soldiers will pay $55 a month for a private connection.

The military is so petrified it will lose information control screensavers were installed on military computers warning blogs could jeopardize security, said Schatman, who runs Wired’s Danger Room blog and has tracked the unofficial use of the Internet by soldiers.

Note to the stars: you can force a soldier to risk his life, to fight, get wounded, even die. You can force him to kill, and if the stress drives him to kill just about anyone who even looks suspicious – well, we all know stuff happens in war, eh? We had No Gun Ri in Korea, and My Lai in Viet Nam, and then Haditha in Iraq, as well as these other problems but you can't force him to think the way you want him to.

One would think that if the Bu$h people have not published new laws or rules regarding mercenaries the military could just apply the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but the UCMJ is specifically for members of the armed services. They’ve been having a hard time bringing serious punishment to soldiers who have admitted killing Iraqis[.]

Second note to stars: “security” does not define limiting citizens rights to free expression of their feelings and anguish. Neither does it define their accessing information that you might think is politically “wrong.” You’re not paid to make political definitions. (Wipe that jizz off your face, General, get up off your knees, and stand up on your hind legs like a man! He’s a frickin deserter, even if he is temporarily occupying our Oval Office.)

Third note to the stars: If they’re willing to pay $55 ca$h money per month to say and read things you don’t like maybe you should stop and think that one day these guys will be out of the green bag. They’re going to remember how you stomped on their constitutional rights just to grovel to your Republican masters, and they’re going to make sure they vote for anyone who isn’t a Republican.