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USAF Readies Laser of Death
An anonymous reader submits: "From the SkyNet Terminator Death Beam Dept...The London Telegraph is carrying this article about U.S. military plans to outfit AC-130 Spectre gunships with a chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) which can be used against personnel and materiel for lethal and nonlethal missions."
You're probably thinking of Protocol IV to the 1980 additions to the Geneva Convention (text at ICRC). As near as I can tell, it only applies to weapons designed to blind people. That's right, folks. You can blow people apart with laser weapons, according to international law, but you can't blind them. It is indeed a strange world we live in.
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So, in my non-geek life, I am an Army Field Artillery officer, and I have some background in Fire Support and Close Air. This thing will be used to support US ground troops( army or marine) in the middle of bad fights, where Field Artillery, or bombs are not availble or inappropriate. AC-130s are big, slow, relatively low flying aircraft, and they are generally committed to support our guys that are in a bad fight. This weapon probably will not be used as some sort of non-discriminate area fire weapon, ( would take too much energy, plus there is a higher risk of losing it to ground fire), but it will help our guys in a fight. If we had used a Spectre in Mogadishu, you folks wouldn't be watching "Black Hawk Down" in the theaters right now. Obviously, I am for it.
For the moralist out there, I wish to ask them one simple question: If we are to be continually called to be the world's cop, like we were in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Somalia, why are you against giving the guys who are doing the dirty work the support to do their jobs? If you don't want us to be the world's cop, then do you have any right to be self rightous about the massacres in these same countries? I oughta know. I did a tour in Sarajevo, Bosnia, right at the beginning of the US mission. So, either you want us to do these missions, and you give us the tools, or you convince your elected officials that you won't get upset by the pictures on TV, and then we don't need these sorts of tools.
You mentioned Switzerland and Iceland as countries that have "tried peace," with the implication that they have been enlightened and successful in this endeavor. It's worth pointing out that Switzerland has been avoided as a target for a couple of reasons: First, their geographic location is a very difficult for occupation; and second, virtually every male citizen of Switzerland is not only required to be a member of the military (militia) but is required to keep their equipment (read guns) in their home for rapid mobilization.
Iceland, on the other hand, is a barely noticeable strategic target except in terms of its possible use as a base in an "east versus west" war. It's also worth noting that Iceland is NOT really neutral in that they are a member of NATO for Heaven's sake!
Finally, being intelligent, educated and compassionate as a nation should never have anything to do with defending oneself or initiating military action. Violence is unfortunately sometimes necessary. Most of us don't like it, but if we ever forget it I'm sure that someone will come along to remind us (you may remember 9/11?).
Good luck with Utopia ("no place").
What the laser does is hit extremely specific targets. In asymmetric warfare--say, a guerrilla radar installation in the middle of a city you'd rather not carpet bomb--the laser lets you win with greatly reduced carnage. So instead of blasting a couple of city blocks to flinders, there's a loud bang that puts a hole through the radar antenna and breaks a few windows. Instead of carpet bombing a suspected missile installation, just plink them as they launch.
Remember that improvements in force projection almost never come by increasing the total amount of force applied, they come by concentrating the force into the smallest ever-smaller areas. It was true of the first iron sights on rifles, it was true of the first radar fuses on WWII missiles, and it is true of modern battle lasers.
-- ;-)
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First of all, the US is fighting people who consider civilians not only fair game, but the main target. Somehow, I don't think anyone should be wondering if Al Qeida (or Iraq or Iran or the Taliban) will follow the Geneva Conventions; we know they don't. We could be placing captured terrorists into penthouses at Trump Plaza; Al Qeida will still treat any captured Americans as cruely as they can imagine.
Secondly, only an anti-American troll would think that terrorists are anything but illegal combatants. They don't wear insignia, they target civilains, and they don't respond to a chain of command. FOLLOWING THE GENEVA CONVENTION, the US has ruled them illegal combatants and not prisoners of war. The US could legally shoot them on sight; it's a damn bit kinder than how any US troops would be treated, and a hell of a lot better than the people working at the WTC were treated.
-jon
Remember Amalek.