Within the body of this text I cover Four Product-Technologies known to have been actualized in modern years with the intention of terminating Group-Demonstration and effectively administering Riot Repression.
The Tools vary greatly in their methods, taking advantage of fringe degrees of sensory perceptions (sight, sound, touch) and psychological phenomenon, but with a common goal:
Control of an Unsatisfactorily active, congregating Public.
Small biographies on each of the dispersal tools ("Dazzler" Laser, the "Screamer," Foster-Miller developed Ai Soldier, and the ADS "Sheriff") will be listed, with an image if available, and links for further information. A brief essay will then follow on the prospective these technologies have for presence and use within U.S. borders--say, in the event of allegations of Election Fraud or Protests concerning the potential for War in Iran.
In Fold We Trust, please take the leap.
Cross-Posted at:
Deny My Freedom.
1) Remote Controlled Robot Soldiers - Potential "Game Boy" style controllers:
The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq...Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring (Spring 2005), the Associated Press reports.
The machine is based on a robot already used by the military to disable bombs (The Talon)...Officials say the robot warrior is fast, accurate and will track and attack the enemy with relatively little risk to the lives of US soldiers.
Unlike its human counterparts, the armed robot does not require food, clothing, training, motivation or a pension...When not needed in war, it can be mothballed in a warehouse.
"
When not needed in War" the
$200,000.00 per unit Ai Troop can indeed be mothballed in a warehouse, right next to the customer-copy receipts for several trillion U.S. National Government debt I.O.U. slips. At 2005 reported capability, the robot soldier can be operated at up to half a mile away (the `Scream', as we will later see, must be within a
mere quarter mile of unrest). It's sturdy platform is said to eliminate the vast majority of shooting errors as, "it is mounted on a stable platform and takes aim automatically." This is surely true... but that is contingent upon whether or not the Human operating this machine has pristinely identified the target through the use of the units four cameras (night vision modifiable).
And here's the
best part:
Mr Quinn says there are plans to replace the computer screen, joysticks and keypad in the remote-control unit with a Gameboy-style controller and virtual-reality goggles.
The Foster-Miller company is owned by the QinetiQ Group, a joint venture between the UK's Ministry of Defence and US-based holding company, Carlyle Group.
If the Carlyle Group doesn't sound familiar, it should. Bush Senior is a fundraiser, business council, advisor, etc. An online documentary can be seen
here (note, first 1:42 of 54:25 is in Dutch, the rest is English, save for a several minute Dutch conclusion).
But this is at least some good news for millions of America's youths: All that time invested into videogames can soon payoff in the way of career prospects.
Now executions can be nearly as impersonal as our lives.
2) The "Screamer" - A Quarter-mile of Control via Sound:
The "Screamer" is a device that pinpoints frequencies of sound that are distressing to the human brain. It emits this, not at an incredibly loud volume (as would perhaps afflict more innocents) but, as used in current, over the space of about a quarter mile. The potential for hysterics and implication of bystanders is exceedingly apparent.
The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) confirmed that soldiers operated "the Screamer", a small white box attached to a jeep that transmitted high-pitched sound waves, to disperse a crowd demonstrating against the separation wall in the West Bank village of Bal'in (Bil'in). The crowd rioted and began to throw rocks at soldiers after they were prevented from reaching the construction site.
One soldier lost an eye after being hit by a stone. Located about a quarter mile from the demonstration, the jeep emitted several bursts of sounds, about one minute in length each time. Although the sound was not loud, it caused people to cover their ears and grab their heads in discomfort. Soldiers also used other means to disperse the crowd, including clubs and stun grenades. (AP, The Jerusalem Post)
The limited coverage of this "Screamer" device is unfortunate, and we have far less access as it is in the Israeli press. But the ramifications for such a device, I'd like to point out again, as far as wide-scale innocent bystanders (Read: neighbors,
Photographers, Journalists) who could `inadvertently' be targeted is considerable to say the least.
In the event of this happening, who are the innocent civilians likely to blame--if they are to side with the government in the irrationality of any form of protest?... Such limited coverage appears to signpost the hypothesis that this limited use is in fact a degree of the initial testing.
3) The "Dazzler" Laser - Momentary Optical Impairing device that Soothes high-speed Automobile operators:
The U.S. military has given troops in Iraq a laser device to temporarily blind drivers who ignore warnings at vehicle checkpoints, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The device is attached to the end of m4 rifles that are equipped to U.S. soldiers. The Military representative interviewed by Reuters constantly stressed the fact that it did not permanently blind those who were subjective to the beam.
"We haven't developed, acquired or fielded any blinding laser weapons that are designed to cause permanent blindness," Venable added.
Venable said he did not know how widespread the usage of the devices was in Iraq.
and even more uncertainty,
Venable said he did not know how long the "optical incapacitation" effect lasted.
The military representative who was assigned to be interviewed in this particular case may very well be fired. Or, he was simply given very little information on the technology that is already in use. Or, the testing necessary to determine the answers to these questions was never conducted and therefore Iraqi civilians have become the live-test subjects.
4) ADS - Is it Hot in here or have you just been Targeted by an Epidermal Skin-layer Cooking Device for Dissidence Related Grievances?:
Using technology similar to that found in a conventional microwave oven, the beam rapidly heats water molecules in the skin to cause intolerable pain and a burning sensation. The invisible beam penetrates the skin to a depth of less than a millimetre. As soon as the target moves out of the beam's path, the pain disappears.
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.
The beam is effective up to a kilometer and any one in the path feels as though their skin is on fire until they are able to take their mind off of this pain and realize an invisible microwave ray has been directed at their position and that they should move.
And what's a super non-lethal weapon without a
really cool, civilian law enforcement oriented name?
The armoured vehicles will be named Sheriffs once they have been modified to carry the microwave weapons, known as the Active Denial System (ADS). Col Hall said that US army and US marine corps units should receive four to six ADS equipped Sheriffs by September 2005.
br>The project was initiated only three months ago but US military chiefs intend to rush the Sheriffs into the front line, believing that they can be of immediate assistance.
In another development, the Sheriffs will be fitted with Gunslinger, a rapid-fire gun currently under development that will detect enemy snipers and automatically fire back at them.
If the Sheriffs prove successful, their use will be expanded in combat zones. They will also be deployed for security at ports and air force bases, and could take part in border patrols.
Unfortunately it seems as though none of our brave embedded MSM reporters in Iraq have been assigned to be bunk-buddies with any units operating the ADS systems. But, as they expand the use of the technology, and if we keep our fingers crossed, perhaps some more developments of its impending success will be brought to our attention.
5) Conclusion: The Promised Musing - A History of Violence:
It is of course well noted, through examples such as Radar and even the development of the Internet, many technologies are invested into and developed during times of war, or at least in preparatory phases for such causes--the potential for bloody events forever kept in mind. These technologies, after they are employed in the sake of conflict, are often developed and honed for civilian use (Airport Flight Towers, Cellular Phones, Satellite T.V., Peer-to-Peer packet sending--many conveniences we have all become personally affected by). However, There is also a history of War-Time products developed precisely for war-scenarios that have made their way back into our domestic lives in less leisurely forms.
An upfront example of this is chemical devices used to disperse crowds:
Lachrymatory Agents. Derivatives of this compound include Tear Gas, Pepper Spray, and Mace. This was initiated into the realm of Chemical Weapons in the First World War; first by the French in 1914. It was most recently used by the French in the streets of their own towns and cities due to demonstrations provoked by unrest surrounding youth working conditions.
The Taser, which was initially developed by a NASA scientist at the behest of Lyndon Johnson seeking to have more `non-lethal' means of potential delinquent control, has been on the borderline of military and police use for nearly a
decade.
Taser International Inc. says the new product will allow police officers and U.S. troops to hit someone from a much greater distance than its current line of Tasers, which Amnesty International has cited in more than 120 deaths.
The eXtended Range Electro-Muscular Projectile, or XREP, will be a shotgun shell designed to combine the blunt-force trauma of a fast-moving baseball with the electrical current of a stun gun.
"It will truly cause incapacitation," company spokesman Steve Tuttle said.
Taser hopes to release the product in 2007. The Office of Naval Research funded the approximately $500,000 it took to develop the shotgun shells, Tuttle said.
(
Sigh; If only the Republicans could support any sort of science that wasn't specifically designed to embrace and expand the potential for combat... well... perhaps we wouldn't need to put so much money in sciences designed to embrace and expand the potential for combat. But that's no way to build a military industrial complex of symbiotic, mutually beneficial nature; I'm just pondering outside the sepulcher...)
The Taser is used in conflict scenarios with the objective specifically `not to kill,' but strongly debilitate. Taser manufacturers contend that although Tasers may have had some influence in the deaths on individuals cited above by Amnesty International, their product has saved "thousands of lives" of others who the Police/ Military Officers would have simply shot with a common handgun instead of subduing by other means. The question here is, of course, whether or not that's true.
Amnesty International has called for independent studies on their safety...
"Amnesty's concern with this product would be similar to those with Tasers being used currently," said Amnesty International spokesman Edward Jackson. "Where is the independent comprehensive medical testing? In the absence of that testing, we run the risk of turning private citizens into guinea pigs."
To be fair and reiterate, in regard to this product, the company doesn't believe it will be made available until at least early next year (2007).
Test models of the XREP shells currently reach 100 feet, though the military has challenged the company to extend the range to 330 feet...
"
Dazzler," "
Sheriff," "
Screamer," "
Gunslinger," and
the android... this Character List sounds like some sort of failed spin-off pilot episode of an X-Men mythical comic book series having been tragically adopted as a Nation's Foreign Policy. Though there is a doubled-edged intelligence to these ridiculous names: it simultaneously ushers unearned support from those likely to endorse their use and makes those likely to protest against them look like paranoid, sci-fi fixated children.
The fact remains that these tools exist and are being tested on Human Beings. The facts allude, as military representatives grant singular interviews to gloat over their unparalleled empathy, that
Iraq is the foremost testing ground. The facts initially distributed have been framed and appear sketchy:
though the facts compiled provide an alarming trend in pseudo-scientific human manipulation.
In the coming election, those who run the Congress control the Budget, and thus see-to how the Facts are determined to be utilized.
Will the facts remain in the hands of men of dire obsequious nature, bent to fulfill
clearly unfounded `live-tests' by those who respect nothing but a show of force? These are the fundamentals of `Conservative' International Relations as we have come to know them; they will continue to "fix the facts to fit the policy" as long as we don't get too inquisitive as to how they were in fact
broken in the first place.