BPR #4 (Biting the Hand that Feeds Edition)

What's up with milblogging great Michael Yon these days?  The new media pioneer -- a man who arguably invented the notion of an embedded blogger -- has suddenly become the U.S. military's biggest critic.  And what's even more surprising is he's leveled ad hominem attacks at the fast-food hating man himself, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Our buddy Noah Shachtman over at Danger Room has the gouge:

The troubled started earlier this month, when the military ended Yon’s embed with the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province after three months. That’s weeks — months — longer than most reporters are permitted (or want, or are able) to hole up with a single unit.

But to Yon, it was still a betrayal. The 5-2’s commander agreed to let Yon stay until the brigade went home. The shorter embed was to him a sign that “McChrystal himself thinks we are losing the war.”

“Today, I do not trust McChrystal any more than some people trust The New York Times, Obama or Bush,” Yon added. “McChrystal is a great killer, but this war is above his head. He must be watched.”

The Barracks Patrol reached out to ISAF public affairs to get their side of the story. "It's absurd," said Army Lt.Col Todd Breasseale. "For every embed that squats it keeps other journalists from doing his or her job." Breasseale further stated that ISAF has bent over backwards for Yon, extending his embed mulitple times, and that it is simply time for him to take his place back at the end of the line.

However this plays out, it's always disappointing when superheroes prove to be human after all.

Read Noah's full report here.

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