Text Messaging Lets Iraqis Tip Authorities

[Rose Siding]

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq -- The tip came in fast, telegraph-terse, and discreet. Maj. Mohammed Salman Abass Ali al-Zobaidi of the Iraqi National Guard scrolled down to read it: "Black four-door Excalibur. Behind cinema."

From cell phone screen to local authorities: Acting on the recent text message tip to the Iraqi National Guard commander, police in a nearby town tracked down a black car behind the theater, and arrested the driver for suspected links to insurgent attacks.

In the volatile Shiite-Sunni towns south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death," Iraqi civilians increasingly are letting their thumbs do the talking, via Arabic text messages sent from the safety of their homes, Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines say.

At a time when U.S. and Iraqi security forces are desperate for information on attacks -- preferably in advance -- mobile phone text messages allow civilians to pass on information from a discreet distance, their identities shielded from security forces and their neighbors.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-text-tips,0,4324768.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[DulceDecorum]

1. WOW

and if you want to ambush a bunch of US soldiers,
you can get them to show up on cue.
Isn't technology wonderful!!

[central scrutinizer]

2. or, you can use the US military

to settle a personal grudge - just rat them out - at the very least they will be hassled and at the worst, sent to Abu Ghraib.

[daleo]

3. Or just send them on wild goose chases. n/t

[against all enemies]

4. Things must be peaceful over there. I bet their reporter drives all over.

What do you think? Newsday probably doesn't have anyone in the country and if they do, they would piss their pants if they ever left their room in the Green Zone. Talk about the media carrying Bush's water.

[keopeli]

5. Sounds exactly like the KGB and Hitler's SS - citizens reporting citizens