Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette should be able to publish his book

Both sides of this issue merit examination and I look forward to hearing your arguments. 1. Prior restraint is inconsistent with Freedom of the Press and should only be used in extreme circumstances The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press; but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity. (4 Bl. Com. 151, 152. ) -William Blackstone No adequate study seems to have been made of the psychology of licensers, censors,security officials, and their kind, but common experience is sufficient to show that their attitudes, drives, emotions, and impulses all tend to carry them to excesses. This is particularly true in the realm of obscenity, but it occurs in all areas where officials are driven by fear or other emotion to suppress free communication. " . http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu...... Publishers have long since not had “freedom”, as they can be sued for libel, held in contempt of court (gag orders), and in extreme situations, even held responsible for crimes committed (inciting a riot or reckless endangerment, by posting addresses or false accounts). This point is moot as it misses the issue; the issue is censorship on the soldier, not on the publisher, which I will address. 2. A responsible account of OBL’s death is justified by the costs of war The American People have spent over $500 billion financing the war in Afghanistan (costofwar. com) largely precipitated by attacks led by Osama Bin Laden. 3,014 Americans have died prosecuting the war. (Wikipedia. org) They deserve to be given a responsible 1st hand account of the raid, unbiased by political censorship decisions. Chief Bissonnette has personally performed in 13 combat tours and risked his own life many times over, his commitment to the cause is evident. It is laughable that some nerdy suit and tie would look over his shoulder and tsk tsk while crossing words out. I will concede this point, but there is something you overlook. To my understanding, No Easy Day is a book, not just an account of the events of the day. An account could be a few page report, yet an entire book is being written. This suggests there is other material, perhaps sensitive in nature that should be avoided being disclosed, such as identities of informants or secret bases. 3. Replacing fifty shades of Grey as USATODAY’s top selling book regains some of America’s dignity and credibility in the world. The sooner, the better. A Federal review would have delayed the publication and fifty shades of crap would stayed on top of the best sellers list for longer An online comment from Katrina after reading Fifty Shades of Grey: “What in the hell just happened? Did I really read that? Oh, my god, I did. I did read that. “ . http://books.usatoday.com...... To avoid embarrassment, Pro advocating that the government should encourage someone, anyone, to write something to get some trashy book off the best seller list. If the concern was to get “fifty shades of crap” (nice touch) off the list, perhaps the government should offer grants to get others to publish books faster, any book (of course, the gov’t may review these to make sure they are not WORSE than the book they’re trying to replace). This is “reverse censorship”, and quashes free speech just as equally. Regardless, this is irrelevant for two reasons. 1. It is a matter of opinion that the top-selling book glorifying the death of an individual speaks better of a nation than some trashy guilty pleasure book; especially if that person is beloved by certain people, certain enemies. 2. Even if No Easy Day was the top-selling book, it would be for non-fiction, while Fifty Shades of Grey would presumably still be the top-seller for fiction. So, there is no material benefit to publishing this book for this reason. Since both these books would be number one in their respective genre, they would likely be number one and two on the unified bestseller list, as people would not forgo one book over the other in masse, and even if they did, the effect on all other book sales would be similar. What, then, does that say about America? We love sex and killing. That’s a good message… Now that that’s taken care of, let’s get to my arguments. The arguments for government proofreading are simple: 1. Security If this book were published without oversight, sensitive information may be inadvertently released; for example, the location of a secret base, the identity of an informant, or various tactics or training exercises. If this information was released, it may put lives in danger and jeopardize future missions. The use of a single name, mannerism, anecdote, or physical characteristic could be enough for someone to figure out who a spy is. 2. The rights of citizens are not the same as the rights of those in the military Active military personnel do not have the same rights as civilians; specifically their freedom of speech is more limited than yours and mine. They are not allowed to publicly disparage commanding officers, incite mutiny, and a bunch of other things that I, as a citizen, can do. So, if this book has passages that say Obama dragged his feet and it cost many men to die, this could be viewed as inciting mutiny, and Chief Bissonnette could actually go to jail. While I as a citizen could go shout it on any talk show that will have me. . http://nlgmltf.org...