US brings new weapon to Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

US brings new weapon to Iraq


Tuesday 09 March 2004, 15:11 Makka Time, 12:11 GMT


The US military is about to add a controversial new weapon to its huge arsenal in Iraq. But in contrast to other armaments, this one does not shoot or explode. It screams.

A defence contractor announced securing a million dollar deal to supply the First US Marine Expeditionary Force with a so-called Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD.

The manufacturer has borrowed some of its technology from modern pest-control devices that shoo away mice and other rodents with the help of ultrasound.

While LRAD can boom commands, it can also deliver a shrill 145-decibel tone over a distance of more than 300 metres, causing splitting headaches, pain, panic and even hearing loss.
(snip/...)

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/573509BF-21B3-42C2-8305-370D6CC9631E.htm

[rooboy]

1. And with private military contractors...

it's only a matter of time before a terrorist group will be able to buy one. Won't that be fun when used in one of America's big cities?

[0007]

12. ...and like the Iraqis can't figure this high technology thing out.

What goes around comes around.

We're not the only ones with the cattle prods.

[tlcandie]

2. These are scarey and I'm NOT impressed!

There are many ways these can harm people from what has been shown in DU before!

[GHOSTDANCER]

26. I guess it's time humans get to experience

what whales and dolphins have known for years.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3173942.stm>

[tlcandie]

32. I agree and watching them die due to our insensitivities to their

being living beings saddens me to no end! What goes round comes round.

[lostnfound]

3. As if we haven't subjected Iraqi families to enough torture already.

I am thinking today about the poor women who had to comfort their terrified toddlers through days of constant bombing..

Hey! US government! There's CHILDREN out there!!

[donsu]

10. the bushgang could care less about children

nt

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Another weapon completely incapable of telling apart those that are....

...actively involved in the insurgency and those that have the extreme misfortune to be in the affected area.

Great. This weapon will win even more hearts and minds.

[Crachet2004]

5. Probably it will be used in American cities when the antiwar and...

antigovernment demonstrations begin to get out of hand...and won't THAT be fun?

Hopefully, we will win in November, and such damaging means of crowd control will be OUTLAWED.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

24. 'Pest control weapons' won't visibly scar protestors. Science!

Another step forward in the PR toolkit for fascists eliminating the right to assembly.

[Crachet2004]

25. To use Science in such a fashion, yet deny stem cell research...

which could hold out hope for millions, is an abomination in governance.

[koopie57]

6. I wonder who

"a defense contractor" is and who manufactures it.

[psychopomp]

14. American Technology Corp

SAN DIEGO --- American Technology Corp. announced today it has been awarded a $485,000 contract by the U.S. Army to deliver LRADs and vehicle mounts to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team already deployed in Iraq. The LRADs and vehicle mounts are scheduled for delivery this quarter.

The first new military vehicle to enter U.S. Army service since the Abrams tank in the 1980s, the Stryker is a ruggedized, lightweight wheeled fighting vehicle that fits in the Army’s vehicle lineup roughly between the Humvee and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The Stryker combines the capacity for rapid deployment with survivability and tactical mobility, providing armored protection for the crew and infantry soldiers.

LRAD is a breakthrough long-range hailing and warning, directed acoustic device designed to communicate with authority and exceptionally high intelligibility. From either a static location or vehicle mount, LRAD can issue a verbal challenge with instructions in excess of 300 yards in a focused beam, and follow up with a warning tone to influence behavior or determine intent. Recorded messages can be selected and transmitted over LRAD in multiple languages. Used in land-based roles for military operations other than war, LRAD will support missions including crowd control, area denial of personnel including checkpoint operations and clearing buildings.

ATC further announced that the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) of the U.S. Army previously purchased and deployed LRADs in Iraq to develop a concept of operations for vehicle mounted use. The REF is a major conduit for new technology insertion into the war fighting forces.

-more

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=38802&session=dae.4490255.1091376153.QQ0UGcOa9dUAABiSVa8&modele=jdc_1

[leesa]

7. God, I hate my government! Sick MoFos. Russia is right, the biggest

excuse for these wars we regularily hold is to put on an arms show.

[NJCher]

8. how I loathe the fact that my tax dollars support this

This is so wrong. So wrong.

I guess it wasn't enough to litter their country with depleted uranium. Now we have to drive those who remain out of their minds.


Cher

[DS1]

9. They shipped my neighbor's car to Iraq?

[donsu]

11. maybe we all should stop paying taxes

maybe we should start 24/7 protests at plants that make war products.

maybe we should block train tracks carrying WMD.

they have done this in other countries; guess americans are too attached to their sofas and mood pills.

[shadu]

23. these thingscould happen

there are a lot of pissed off US citizens

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

13. And, so this wonder weapon is neutralized by $1.00 earplugs??

I see this weapon being rolled out in Iraq as a "real world" test bed for its eventual use as a crowd control weapon in the US.

The question I have, though, is "how effective will this sound weapon be against a good set of earplugs?"

JB

[frylock]

17. test run for the protestors in nyc..

bastards.

[bemildred]

15. More bullshit.

Three hundred yards is not near enough.
I give it a week. I give it maybe three tries in
combat and then back to the states.

[loudsue]

16. This ultrasound device is a MASS-TORTURE device of mass destruction

And people need to acquire some good old fashioned rocket propelled grenades to knock it out.

Treating people like they treat bugs.....brain-splitting ultrasound.

NOT IN MY NAME, AND NOT WITH MY TAX DOLLARS!!!! There ARE babies out there!!!!

:kick:

[shadu]

22. i'm with you

i hope the Iraqis have a butt load of
RPGs, and i hope NATO instructs thousands of
Iraqis how to use them. these people have every
right to fight back.

[bobthedrummer]

18. American Technology Corp. of San Diego got the DoD contracts for

sonic weapons largely based upon their patented HSS/Silent Sound technologies, which include what is known as "voice-to-skull" communications (literally having voices inside your head-a diagnostic criteria of mental illness).

American Technology Corp. of San Diego is not the only entity holding US Patents on voice-to-skull technologies.
http://www.raven1.net/5159703.htm

Here are a couple of links to the history of the American Technology Corp. of San Diego sonic weapons (LRAD) contracts.
http://www.raven1.net/atc-ag98.htm

http://www.raven1.net/hssweapon.htm

American Technology Corp. of San Diego executives have engaged in inside trade.
http://biz.yahoo.com/t/14/1529.html

One result of the deployment of this mind invasive technology has been the movement within the ETHICAL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION to challenge fundamental concepts-like the diagnostic criteria used for psychosis.
http://www.adacomp.net/~mcherney/NewCrit-JPSS-CS2.htm

That's not too far off-topic, I hope. Btw, the LRAD is classified as a Non-Lethal weapon. Here is a publication from the USAF "Nonlethal Weapons: Terms and References"
http://www.adacomp.net/~mcherney/nonlethal.html

and, yes, mercenaries use this stuff with impugnity-it is selling like hotcakes now.:grr::puke::argh:

[proud patriot]

19. Winning the hearts and minds of I raqi's I see

:eyes:

[lottie244]

20. Now what kind of post-traumatic syndrome will our soldiers suffer?

I just can't believe this...what planet are we on?

[DulceDecorum]

21. So you blow their eardrums out

and then they are deaf.
Then what?

And what of your own troops?
And the people on the other side of the borders of Iraq?
Time for Coalition partners to pull out.
Now, before the friendlies get to firing.

Saddam was correct.
THIS is the Mother of all Wars.
And Death is the only victor.

[Gyre]

27. Why not use the exploding dog collars?

Oh yeah, because there would be something to see. Don't you just love sanitary warfare? Sound waves employed to fuck whales, dolphins and Iraqis up. Man, that American ingenuity is really increasing the quality of our lives isn't it?

The only thing that surprises me is that we didn't loan this to the Israelis first so they could run the human experiments on that little roadbump on the way to Armageddon (the Palestinians). But hey, why use a middleman when we got our own rats in a cage?

Gyre

[ParanoidPat]

28. Phase cancellation......

......buy a pair of Miracle Ear hearing aids and rewire the microphone to be out of phase so the output 'phase canceles' the noise from their junk mobile. (Hint: rewiring the microphone on a megaphone will give a similar result!)

[Rex]

29. Maybe we can make a device that cripples people by crushing their legs

call it a "non-lethal" device. :eyes:

These people are fucking crazy!

[pinniped]

30. Wow, sounds like a real smart weapon that can choose its targets...

with superior accuracy.:eyes:

[struggle4progress]

31. A few more years of Bush and the protestors in our "free speech zones" ...

... will be tortured with these devices.

[ParanoidPat]

33. Years? How about the RNC in NYC?

:evilgrin: (Bring ear plugs!)

[struggle4progress]

37. That should produce some grumpy bystanders. eom

[Barkley]

34. I wonder when and where they tested the LRAD?

I imagine there must have been some tests done before fielding this weapon?

I agree with the earlier post that this weapon will be used in America against demonstrators, blacks, college campuses etc.

[Fone Book]

35. disgusting

[Tight_rope]

36. Oh Great!...Bush is going to have a show down in Iraq...I don't like the

sound of this. Others are watching.