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Winning (and Losing) the First Wired War

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the distributed-tactics dept.

Noah Shachtman writes "The Iraq war was launched on a theory: That, with the right networking gear, American armed forces could control a country with a fraction of the troops ordinarily needed. But that equipment never made it down to the front lines, David Axe (just back from his 6th trip to Iraq) and I note in this month's Popular Science. That's a problem, because the insurgents are using throwaway cellphones and anonymous e-mail accounts to stitch together a network of their own."

4 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. wired war by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cellphones are wired now?

    Jeez I must have an uber fancy one then...

  2. there's a clear solution by yagu · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've been reading the recent slashdot articles, and seen the decisive actions governments are considering, it's only a matter of time before these terrorists are reined in. All they need to do is quickly enact legislation that, among other things:

    • requires all throwaway cellphones to be registered with the government
    • outlaw anonymous e-mail accounts
    • (and, from recent article) require all terrorists to register and provide any and all encryption keys
    • (and, also from recent article) prohibit terrorists from using and having access to any network tools.

    Sheeesh, how simple can this be?

  3. Taste of Freedom by DaFallus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Iraq's slaves^H^H^H^H^H^H^H citizens, behold the fruit of your labours! The Mobile Oppression Palace! I don't need to tell you that occupation forces are expensive. But with the Mobile Oppression Palace our dignitaries can oppress your entire country for pennies a day.

    --
    No one cares what your captcha was

    Houston TX, USA
  4. Re:Not to be contrarian or anything by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Funny
    Silly you. You probably thought it was about WMDs, bringing democracy to Iraq, securing Iraqi oil supplies or some such nonsense. Actually, the plans for Iraq started as a bet between a couple of generals.
    General #1: Y'know, I'll bet we could control a country with a fraction of the troops ordinarily needed if we just had the right networking gear.
    General #2: You're full of shit.
    General #1: Wanna bet?
    General #2: You're on!
    Now comes the more interesting question: What do you think the prize was? I'm thinking it was $1.