US Military blocks popular websites in war zones soldiers forced to cut ties from home

On 5 April , I had written about the convergence of technology and politics and how websites like MySpace.com were being used as potent communication tools by the US Presidential poll candidates . At that time Myspace.com accounted for 37% of the Internet traffic of the US and more than 64.4 million unique American users . Since then Myspace.com has continued its consolidation as one of the premier social networking sites . While the context of my post of 5 April was Myspace.com as a channel for distribution of political content , it also fulfills a very important social connectivity need . Today , the Washington post reported about the ban of Myspace.com and 11 other such sites , by the US military in war zones . The American Defence establishment's rationale was to free up precious bandwidth in the battlefront for mission critical operations . One really cant fault the military rationale of this argument however it is also important to consider that networking sites provide a great medium for the war torn soldier to connect with friends and family . In its attempts to optimize bandwidth the US Army is perhaps insensitive to the affective needs of its soldiers ....is there a need to balance two conflicting needs ....bandwidth optimization and the social needs of the soldiers........... Hillary Clinton has more than 30,000 friends in Myspace , and am sure Uncle Sam's soldier is also entitled to remain connected with his friends ,a perk that he rightfully deserves for fighting mindless wars for Bush Jr !!