YouTube questions US Army block

The founders of YouTube have questioned the US Army's rationale for blocking certain internet sites from its soldiers.

Earlier this week the Army announced a decision to block troops using sites like YouTube, MTV and MySpace, saying that the recreational use was hogging too much bandwidth and slowing down the US Department of Defense network.  

"They said it might be a bandwidth issue, but they created the internet so I don't know what the problem is," YouTube chief executive Chad Hurley said during an interview with Associated Press.

Hurley explained that he was particularly confused by the ban as it came just days after the Army launched its own channel on YouTube showing clips of troops helping Iraqis and bombing factories and an Iraqi boy scout jamboree. 

"We would like to explore what's at issue here and talk about what we can do to sort out the issue," said YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan.

This month the Iraqi government passed a law banning news photographers and camera operators from filming bombing scenes.