Found: WMDs in Iraq!
For some lefties, it makes our blood boil and our skin crawl that no WMDs have been found in Iraq Well, it is now becoming apparent that the U.S. Army is using the Iraqi war as a proving ground for new-fangled weapons that literally makes blood boil and skin crawl. Armored vehicles are being outfitted with microwave guns that, pointed at a crowd, will cause searing pain on contact until the crowd disperses away from the dang thing. From the News.Telegraph article:
As scary as this sounds, it is not the only case for the current conflict being used to perfect new weapons. Sonic weapons have supposedly been used in the Battle of Fallujah to some effect. These acoustical devices have been in development for some time. I remember reading with some interest how during Operation Just Cause ("just cause we feel like it"), Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was subjected to LOUD repeated performances of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Voodoo Chile". This made some sense in that he was known to have cavorted on occasion with some dead chickens. He had been holed up in a Catholic parish, but this brought him out with his hands up. Score one for the late, great blues baddass Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Department of Defense has improved the technology since its rather crude debut as simply a massive PA ran by a maniacal sound engineer. Now, crowds or invading armies can be overcome with nausea or lose control of their bowels by being subjected to intense low frequencies. While certain Slayer fans may reflectively start bobbing their heads at the thought, I believe that sound, as a weapon, needs to be kept firmly in the hands of skilled practitioners such as Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, and others.
I have been known to ruthlessly and accidentally subject audiences to sudden mistaken blasts of feedback at shows over the years leaving them to cower and duck and curse. Luckily, this kind of technology never made it into my hands. Had I hit the wrong knob at a soundcheck causing my audience to release their bowels, I would have truly been apologetic and may not have been able to redeem myself with my available repertoire. The thought that the military is making strides in using sound as a weapon is disturbing altogether.
This kind of whiz-bang-007-Dr. Evil-ness being tried out is troubling in many ways. All modern wars see the introduction of vile new wonders. The mother of all WMDs--some would say the only actual one, The Bomb, saw its bloody debut of course in the bitter end of WWII. In Vietnam, wide-scale defoliants proved to be a scourge on the enemy as well as our troops. Gulf War I revealed that depleted uranium shells (heavy metal projectile tips) could obliterate opposing tanks and leave a trail of leukemia and murky symptoms in exposed civilians and veterans. The effect of microwave weapons and acoustical boom bombs is being tabulated by the evil geniuses in the DOD and their impact will have to be debated if ever we can obtain the facts behind their use.
These are all examples of Weapons of Mass Distruction. We The People are the ones becoming reliant on their repeated use. We need to witness their eventual obsolescense.
A principle concern comes if the unthinkable happens: if the Corporatist takeover of America is ordained through the process of another stolen election and folks like me have to take to the streets to holler our indignation. Will we be subjected to the new found crowd control mechanisms and techniques now being perfected 6,000 miles away? Will our blood boil and our skin crawl and our ears bleed for real?
Read more!
"Because there are no after-effects, the United States Department of Defence believes that the weapons will be particularly useful in urban conflict. The beam could be used to scatter large crowds in which insurgents operate at close quarters to both troops and civilians."
As scary as this sounds, it is not the only case for the current conflict being used to perfect new weapons. Sonic weapons have supposedly been used in the Battle of Fallujah to some effect. These acoustical devices have been in development for some time. I remember reading with some interest how during Operation Just Cause ("just cause we feel like it"), Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was subjected to LOUD repeated performances of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Voodoo Chile". This made some sense in that he was known to have cavorted on occasion with some dead chickens. He had been holed up in a Catholic parish, but this brought him out with his hands up. Score one for the late, great blues baddass Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Department of Defense has improved the technology since its rather crude debut as simply a massive PA ran by a maniacal sound engineer. Now, crowds or invading armies can be overcome with nausea or lose control of their bowels by being subjected to intense low frequencies. While certain Slayer fans may reflectively start bobbing their heads at the thought, I believe that sound, as a weapon, needs to be kept firmly in the hands of skilled practitioners such as Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, and others.
I have been known to ruthlessly and accidentally subject audiences to sudden mistaken blasts of feedback at shows over the years leaving them to cower and duck and curse. Luckily, this kind of technology never made it into my hands. Had I hit the wrong knob at a soundcheck causing my audience to release their bowels, I would have truly been apologetic and may not have been able to redeem myself with my available repertoire. The thought that the military is making strides in using sound as a weapon is disturbing altogether.
This kind of whiz-bang-007-Dr. Evil-ness being tried out is troubling in many ways. All modern wars see the introduction of vile new wonders. The mother of all WMDs--some would say the only actual one, The Bomb, saw its bloody debut of course in the bitter end of WWII. In Vietnam, wide-scale defoliants proved to be a scourge on the enemy as well as our troops. Gulf War I revealed that depleted uranium shells (heavy metal projectile tips) could obliterate opposing tanks and leave a trail of leukemia and murky symptoms in exposed civilians and veterans. The effect of microwave weapons and acoustical boom bombs is being tabulated by the evil geniuses in the DOD and their impact will have to be debated if ever we can obtain the facts behind their use.
These are all examples of Weapons of Mass Distruction. We The People are the ones becoming reliant on their repeated use. We need to witness their eventual obsolescense.
A principle concern comes if the unthinkable happens: if the Corporatist takeover of America is ordained through the process of another stolen election and folks like me have to take to the streets to holler our indignation. Will we be subjected to the new found crowd control mechanisms and techniques now being perfected 6,000 miles away? Will our blood boil and our skin crawl and our ears bleed for real?
Read more!
LINK
posted by obelus at 9/20/2004 07:24:00 AM
2 comments
