Star Wars in Iraq - happening now? Here?
Submitted by richsezclark4prez on November 11, 2007 - 10:54pm.
torture | Current Events | Human Rights | International | Iraq | Middle East | National Security | Science
A few weeks ago I was listening to NPR's "All Things Considered", when they mentioned a test of a new military weapon, "coming up" as they say in the radio biz. I "stayed tuned" while parked in my driveway and heard this report:
Non-Lethal Weapon Emits Invisible Rays of Pain
by Guy Raz, All Things Considered, October 29, 2007 (listen at link)
The Pentagon's research arm has come up with a weapon that can neutralize an individual — or a crowd — from a distance of more than 500 yards.
It's not intended to kill. It emits an invisible beam of high-energy radio frequency that causes a person to recoil and flee. The weapon has been 12 years in the making, and now it's ready.
NPR's defense correspondent gets zapped by the Active Denial System.
(listen at link)
After hearing this report, I recalled something I heard about some time ago, a bizarre attack that happened in Iraq:
Star Wars in Iraq a Reality?
Published 2006-05-24 @ OhMyNews.com in Korea
Science fiction fans are used to dealing with extremely advanced technologies, like laser weapons, space fighters, and death rays, which are all taken for granted and even expected in the fantastic world created by the cosmic fantasizing of writers and playwrights.
According to some, however, this world may be less fictional than we think.
What would you say if someone told you that laser weapons do in fact exist? What would you think if someone told you the "Death Ray" actually does exist? What would you think if someone told you these weapons were used in military operations?This is what seems to emerge from an inquiry by Maurizio Torrealta and Sigfrido Ranucci, two well-known and esteemed journalists working for Italian state-run television, RAI TV.
~snip~
The results of the inquiry are contained in a documentary entitled "Star Wars In Iraq" and broadcast on all-news channel Rainews24.~snip~
Speaking of three dead people he saw in a car, the musician adds, "There wasn't any bullet...I saw the teeth, just the teeth and no eyes...all of them...with their bodies...nothing for the bodies...the heads were burned."
The documentary affirms the battleground was dug up by the U.S. military and replaced with fresh soil.The corpses not hit by projectiles shrank "to slightly more than one meter (39 in.) in height," which is confirmed by Al Ghezali himself. Asked what kind of weapon he thought was used, he replied, "One year later (2004) we heard that they used a unique one (technology)...like lasers."
~snip~
"Twenty-six in the bus...about twenty of them...some of them have no head...some of them arms, legs...the only one uninjured was the driver...really I don't know how he reached our hospital...very miserable…."The interviewer asks whether the doctor had any idea of what kind of weapon had attacked the bus, and the surgeon replied, "We didn't know what kind of weapon hit...really what we saw...cut arms...cut legs…." Nobody in the hospital could identify what type of weapon was used. No trace of bullets was found in the bodies.
Could the weapon Guy Raz submitted himself to be this same weapon, being actively tested and USED on REAL PEOPLE in a REAL WAR ZONE, with its Star Trek-like power factor set from STUN to KILL?
Then I came upon this story on Democracy Now! about the same Italian documentary:
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
U.S. Broadcast Exclusive: Star Wars in Iraq: Is the U.S. Using New Experimental Tactical High Energy Laser Weapons in Iraq?
In November, a documentary from Italy’s RAI Television accusing the United States of illegally white phosphorus during its attack on Fallujah. A new documentary says the United States is now using experimental laser weapons against Iraqi civilians. We play an excerpt. [includes rush transcript]
GO TO LINK ABOVE FOR:
Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3
Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript
Help Printer-friendly version Email to a friend Purchase Video/CD~snip~
NARRATOR: Let’s hear Dr. Saad al Falluji’s story about this more in detail.SAAD AL FALLUJI: This bus was very crowded. They went from Hilla to Kifil to see their families, but before they reached the checkpoint of American checkpoint, they returned back. They said to them, “Please return.” The villagers, they said to them, “Return back. Return back.” When he tried to return back, they shoot him from the checkpoint.
GEERT VAN MOORTER: No gunshot wounds?
SAAD AL FALLUJI: No, no, I don’t know what it was. We are here, ten surgeons. We couldn’t decide what was the weapon which hit this car.
GEERT VAN MOORTER: But inside the bodies, you did not discover ordinary bullets?
SAAD AL FALLUJI: All of them being -- we didn’t find bullets. We didn’t find bullets. But most of the passenger people been dead, so they took them immediately to the refrigerator. We couldn’t dissect and see. But those who were alive, we couldn’t find any kind of shells. We didn’t find shells inside their bodies.
DOCTOR NO. 2: Something cutting organs, cutting limbs, attacking the neck, attacking the abdomen, it goes out.
~snip~
JOURNALIST: Mr. Secretary, can I ask you a question about some of the technology that you're developing to fight the war on terrorists, specifically directed energy and high-powered microwave technology? Do you -- when do you envision that you can weaponize that type of technology?DONALD RUMSFELD: Goodness, it is in -- for the most part, the kinds of things you're talking about are in varying early stages. Do you want to -- do you have anything you would add?
GEN. RICHARD MYERS: I don't think I would add much. I think they are in early stages and probably not ready for employment at this point.
DONALD RUMSFELD: In the normal order of things, when you invest in research and development and begin a developmental project, you don't have any intention or expectations that one would use it. On the other hand, the real world intervenes from time to time, and you reach in there and take something out that is still in a developmental stage, and you might use it. So the -- your question's not answerable. It is -- it depends on what happens in the future and how well things move along the track and whether or not someone feels it's appropriate to reach into a development stage and see if something might be useful, as was the case with the unmanned aerial vehicles.
JOURNALIST: But you sound like you're willing to experiment with it.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS: Yeah, I think that's the point. And I think -- and it's -- we have, I think, from the beginning of this conflict -- I think General Franks has been very open to looking at new things, if there are new things available, and has been willing to put them into the fight, even before they've been fully wrung out. And I think that's -- not referring to these particular cases of directed energy or high-powered microwave, but sure. And we will continue to do that.
Myers first says, "I think they are in early stages and probably not ready for employment at this point." but then adds "General Franks has been very open to looking at new things, if there are new things available, and has been willing to put them into the fight, even before they've been fully wrung out."!
Again, was the weapon NPR's Guy Raz submitted himself to the SAME WEAPON described in the documentary Star Wars in Iraq produced by RAI Italian television? What's equally bizarre is the casual style in Guy Raz's report and the matter-of-factness of the military people (Air Force's Stephanie Miller - not the talk show host) in his report. Why would NPR run this story MORE THAN A YEAR after the Italian documentary came out?
Here is the original report:
Star Wars In Iraq
@ Information Clearinghouse
Is The U.S. using new experimental "Tactical High Energy Laser" weapons in Iraq?
“Star Wars in Iraq”
report by Maurizio Torrealta and Sigfrido Ranucci.
RAI 24 News - Run Time 25 Minutes -WATCH at link
According to official Pentagon sources, military vehicles equipped with this laser device have been used in Afghanistan to explode mines. According to two reliable military information sites – Defense Tech and Defence Industry Daily - at least three such vehicles are being used in Iraq as well and some people report having seen them.
This confirms what Guy Raz reported: "military vehicles equipped with this laser device" he describes as "satellite dishes strapped on top of HumVee's" that he volunteered to be targeted at 500 yards.
Boeing trumpets 'relevant battlefield laser' raygunCopes easily with aggressive sitting ducks, barrels of fishPage: 1 2 Next > 18th October 2007
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/18/boeing_laser_avenger_/
Monster US arms'n'aerospace outfit Boeing is pleased as punch this week to announce that it has "successfully demonstrated" its new Humvee-mounted raygun, the Laser Avenger - intended to prove "that directed energy weapons are relevant to today's battlefield, and ready to be fielded".
Holy crap, one might think. Energy weapons, relevant to today's battlefield, ready to go?
That's got to be something pretty exciting - maybe a handheld blaster rifle, better in some ways than an AK47. Or, more prosaically but very usefully, a lightning-fast beam which could zap salvos of Katyusha rockets or mortar bombs out of the air - very welcome in the constantly-harassed fortified bases of Iraq or Afghanistan.Well, no, actually. What we've got here is a gyrostabilised automatic turret from Boeing's existing Avenger air-defence system. Avenger normally packs Stinger missiles and/or a .50-cal heavy machine gun, but this year Boeing has fitted it out with a 1 kilowatt solid state laser.Just what use this might be isn't immediately clear, though Boeing reckons Laser Avenger would be a great way of clearing unexploded ordnance (UXO) or perhaps terrorist/insurgent bombs (Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs) out of the way. It seems you can shine the raygun at such things, and after a while they explode.Boeing said: "During laser firings [last month] the Laser Avenger engaged and destroyed five targets representing IED and UXO threats... at ranges that allowed the system to be operated at safe distances from the target."Well, that is impressive. Although you can do the same job - probably quicker - with a suitable rifle, actually: probably with less chance of detonating the explosives. And you don't need a whole Hummer-load of gear in that scenario.
So what else can Laser Avenger do? Apart from maybe light a cigar?
Ahem. "During the test, the system also took a step toward demonstrating a counter-unmanned aerial vehicle capability by destroying two small unmanned aerial vehicles that were stationary on the ground."
Hmm. One can typically destroy a small unmanned aerial vehicle, if stationary on the ground, with nothing more technically sophisticated than a length of pipe. This isn't exactly amazing stuff.
But Boeing reckons Laser Avenger "could be upgraded... to destroy other kinds of targets, including low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles."Which would be dandy if anyone on "today's battlefield" - apart from the USA and its friends - was using flying robots. Some people are puzzled by this lack of interest by the Taliban, Iraqi insurgents and such in small drone aircraft, and expect them to get in on the game soon. There are certain applications they might find useful; for instance, small cheap GPS-guided jobs could act as mini cruise missiles against US and allied bases.But this sort of thing could be dealt with in easier ways than laser-cannon defences. Even the most basic aerobot relies on the electromagnetic spectrum in some way, if only to receive GPS transmissions. A little bit of localised jamming or spoofing of the civil GPS signal (nothing so heavy-handed as fooling with the satellites would be required) and the jihadi flying-bomb guys will be out of luck. Such measures are widely believed to be available already, in fact.Any more sophisticated unmanned aircraft would need an actual communications link of some sort, and that kind of thing makes Western electronic-warfare guys very happy indeed. A system of that nature would most probably be a death warrant for its operator, in addition to having almost zero chance of successfully achieving anything.So perhaps the non-appearance of improvised cruise missiles isn't so surprising. And perhaps Boeing's rather feeble, rather heavy raygun isn't, in fact, very relevant to today's battlefield after all. The old gag about lasers being "a solution in search of a problem" comes to mind here.All of which might explain why the company had to pay for Laser Avenger's development themselves, rather than getting any Pentagon seed money. ®
synthetic environment Democrats break your heart but GOP just boys you'd never go out with anyway - Nora Ephron
If you can wade through the often-heavy prose, you will find the book "The Last Ship" by William Brinkley a powerful read.
The book is basically the personal journal of the commanding officer of a U.S. Navy missile destroyer just before, during, and after a nuclear exchange that contaminated everything on Earth except his ship -- owing to freaky weather conditions, a Russian submarine, and an isolated island in the Pacific. The task: preserve the human race and restart civilization.
Two things struck me: I wouldn't survive in that world. The world needed farmers, ranchers, carpenters, machinists -- people who do things with their hands. No bureaucrats needed.
But the reason I'm writing this is a short sentence Brinkley wrote on behalf the ship's captain, prior to the nuclear exchange. The captain muses on the power and destruction he commands. He writes:
...what man invents, man uses.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Don't settle for less.
Make America All It Can Be!
I forgot to include this in my blog.
From OneWorld.net
US using 'dangerous new form of weapon'
From Brett Wagner, president of the California Center for Strategic Studies:
A couple of weeks ago I sent you an urgent email titled "The Most Shocking Thing I Have Ever Seen."
Since then, the California Center for Strategic Studies (CCSS) has been gathering additional evidence that the U.S. government has deployed a very dangerous new form of weapon in Iraq, apparently without congressional approval.
We have now set up an online petition calling on the U.S. Congress to oppose the development and deployment of the "pain ray" and the "death ray":
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/DeathRay/petition.html
The petition also serves as a rough draft for prospective legislation.
Enclosed at the bottom of this email is an op-ed I've written which is going out all across the country next week.
(much more at link...
Here is part of the letter...
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"From the 'pain ray' to the 'death ray':
Have direct energy weapons already been deployed by U.S.
forces in Iraq?"
By Brett Wagner
Nothing in my training or experience as a national security specialist prepared me for what I witnessed last month when viewing a newly released documentary news video concerning an extremely controversial new generation of U.S. weaponry which may have already been secretly deployed in Iraq. This sort of thing is not for the faint of heart.
For the past few years the U.S. military has been developing new technology based on "directed energy" yielding two new types of weapons.
The first, "Active Denial System," has been nicknamed the "pain ray" -- and with good reason. It fires out millimeter waves -- a sort of cousin of microwaves, in the 95 GHz range. The invisible beams penetrate just 1/64th of
an inch beneath the skin, directly affecting the nerve endings, and a 2-second burst can heat the skin to 130 degrees. Charles Heal, a widely recognized authority on nonlethal weapons who has dubbed the ray the "Holy Grail of crowd control," likened it to having a hot iron pressed against the skin.
Deploying the pain ray would be a clear violation of international law, which prohibits weapons whose primary intention is to inflict pain. Earlier this year, a U.S. military commander in Iraq requested that, despite the ban, the weapon be deployed immediately. But following the efforts of our organization and others opposing that request, Washington has indefinitely delayed any deployment pending further testing and analysis.
The second form of directed energy weaponry fires out microwaves, a form of energy well known for its use in modern kitchen appliances. I have nicknamed this weapon the "death ray" -- and with good reason. Exposing mammals to microwaves is known to make them explode.
~snip~
These types of weapons pose a dire threat to the world as we know it and their deployment must be prevented at all cost. At the very least, they could ignite a new global arms race, which in turn would lead to increasing global instability or worse.
We simply must not allow this "Brave New World" to enter our own.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once again, here is the link to the petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/DeathRay/petition.html
Boeing Conducts Successful Avenger-Mounted Laser Tests Innovative system neutralizes IEDs, unexploded ordnance
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 15, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has successfully demonstrated that its Avenger-mounted laser system can neutralize the kinds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXO) that threaten U.S. troops deployed in war zones.
During laser firings Sept. 26-27 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., the Laser Avenger engaged and destroyed five targets representing IED and UXO threats. Laser Avenger, equipped with a 1-kilowatt solid-state laser, proved its effectiveness at ranges that allowed the system to be operated at safe distances from the target. During the test, the system also took a step toward demonstrating a counter-unmanned aerial vehicle capability by destroying two small unmanned aerial vehicles that were stationary on the ground.
Laser Avenger is a Boeing-funded initiative to show that directed energy weapons are relevant to today's battlefield and are ready to be fielded. Boeing developed the system in only eight months, underscoring the company's ability to rapidly respond to warfighters' needs.
Laser Avenger also is the latest in a series of Boeing upgrades to expand the Avenger air defense system into an Agile Multi-Role Weapon System (AMWS) with ground-to-ground as well as ground-to-air capability. The laser was added while retaining Avenger's ability to carry other weapons, including missiles and a machine gun. By building upon the Avenger, of which there are over 600 fielded worldwide, Laser Avenger will take advantage of an existing global logistics network, making it highly supportable.
"Boeing's investment strategy is to move some of its new directed energy weapon systems into field demonstrations, and Laser Avenger is the first one we're rolling out," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "Laser Avenger provides the speed-of-light and ultra-precision capability that the warfighter needs today to safely neutralize improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance."
"Laser Avenger marries the best of Boeing -- our proven Avenger system with the great capabilities of Boeing's directed energy business unit," said Debra Rub-Zenko, vice president of Boeing Integrated Missile Defense. "Adding a laser to the Avenger arsenal expands the capability of this flexible system to meet battlefield requirements today and tomorrow."
The laser segment of Laser Avenger will have uses beyond the counter-IED, counter-UXO mission. For instance, it could be upgraded to have a shoot-on-the-move capability and to destroy other kinds of targets, including low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles.
http://www.boeing.com/ids/news/2007/q4/071015a_nr.html
synthetic environment Democrats break your heart but GOP just boys you'd never go out with anyway - Nora Ephron