Pentagon Wants to Stop Soldiers' "Trophy Videos" of Iraqi Events

Funny I had to go to The Guardian in England to read this story:

Last week the Pentagon ordered American servicemen in Iraq to stop posting private video clips on the internet.

These "trophy videos" have become one of the more extraordinary by-products of modern-day warfare as soldiers - like everyday tourists - send video images ranging from the comic to the utterly horrific back home to impress friends and titillate the fans of "uncensored war".
There are hundreds of hours of this stuff posted up on a range of internet sites - most of it is fairly crudely shot and edited and usually set to thrash metal soundtracks.

But these homemade war videos offer an insight into modern warfare and the psyche of the average serviceman which conventional broadcast news and current affairs coverage cannot get close to.

Some of the material - like the famous Show Me the Way to Amarillo Peter Kay video rip-off by British servicemen - is clearly just an innocent exercise in overcoming the boredom between patrols, but it is the stuff shot on patrol that really has the power to shock.

Images I have seen recently include a close up of a suicide bomber exploding in two, an insurgent being shot through the head by an American sniper, full scale firefights between US patrols and insurgents plus endless images of body parts scattered about in the aftermath of the latest bomb explosion.

This footage is often supported by a running commentary of "awesome" and suchlike from the cameraman who has literally strapped a digital camera onto his helmet or gun barrel and shot the video while he was shooting insurgents.