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Millimeter-Wave Weapon Certified For Use In Iraq

jdray writes "Wired has a story on the certification of the Active Denial System for use in Iraq. The ADS is a millimeter-wave weapon that uses a reportedly non-lethal energy beam to inflict short-term pain on its targets, encouraging them to leave an area. Experimenters call this the 'Goodbye effect.' I can see using this in a wartime situation, but how long before we see these things mounted to the top of S.W.A.T. vans for domestic crowd control? And, is that a bad idea?" From the article: The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves — 94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven... while subjects may feel like they have sustained serious burns, the documents claim effects are not long-lasting. At most, 'some volunteers who tolerate the heat may experience prolonged redness or even small blisters'... There has been no independent checking of the military's claims." Wired use Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain documents on the military's testing program.

6 of 806 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They should be careful about escalating by jmorris42 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    > The greatest threat to our rights is hypersensitive assholes like yourself who believe that their rights
    > trumps everyone elses - and that threats are the only adequate means of getting a point across.

    Close, but it is time we became blunt with tyrants like the original poster. The original poster is a wannabe tyrant who believes he is superior to the normal mortals standing in his way and seeks to impose his supposedly superior morality on us lesser beings through the use of force. In other words, he is a fairly typical example of a modern leftist.

    They don't believe in persuasion in the customary sense that Citizens in a Free society debate issues and come to decisions because they have accumulated decades of bitter experience that when they openly discuss their goals the People reject them. So they are done talking. Convinced of their own moral superiority, intelligence, education and wisdom they are ready to impose their vision at gunpoint, by terrorism, and through blatent lies to attain power, etc. Because for them the ends justify the means.

    --
    Democrat delenda est
  2. Coercion VS freedom by Scrameustache · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The alternative is to riddle another human being with bullets, [...]
    Honestly, you über-pacifists are never satisfied. The alternative to the true pacifist is to let the ones without sins throw the first stones or to turn the other cheek.

    So, no, high tech whips are not satisfying as an alternative.

    any sovereign nation (not just the U.S.) needs a standing military to defend itself when and as needed; the less lethal/destructive we can make those conflicts between nations, the better. Quit your whining, this is a step in the right direction -- a small one, but important nonetheless. Right. This weapon for use in Iraq is a defensive act on the part of the U.S.
    Seeing how Iraq posed a clear and pressing danger to the U.S. with it's vast arsenal of stokpiled weapons of mass destruction, fittend onto ballistic missiles as they were...

    See, we're saying this weapon will be misused.
    Just like the defensive military was misused.
    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  3. Re:They should be careful about escalating by WhiplashII · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Or is it that there are a few loud, obnoxious people that want to force their viewpoint on everone else? Perhaps the government is trying to preserve the freedom of the many quiet people that do not want to have to obey the wims of the liberals...

    When was the last conservative march, btw? They do seem to be right around 50% of the population, why don't they march? They do seem to have most of the guns, however... so maybe those that say they will "fight the man" better take a chill pill ;-}

    --
    while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
  4. Re:They should be careful about escalating by susano_otter · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    People are asshats.

    I flat-out expect politicians to be asshats.

    I flat-out expect protesters to be asshats.

    To mitigate the asshattery of the former, I endorse regular elections.

    To mitigate the asshattery of the latter, I endorse a sensation of searing pain until they stop acting like asshats.

    --

    Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

  5. Re:Suit up guys! by E++99 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Also, the first time it is used at a US political protest, such as a GOP convention, there's going to be hell to pay.

    Yes, but whatver the cost, if the end result is that we microwave our nation's professional protesters, it's a freakin bargain!
  6. Re:They should be careful about escalating by E++99 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Inventing ways for crowd control is almost like admitting that the "powers that be" recongnize that people do not like what they do and flat-out expect dissent on a wide scale. The fact that these devices are actually made proves that not only do they expect it, but they don't care about the reasons behind the dissent, and only want to control it.

    Nor should they care. The people have the power to completely change the entire government at will (except the Supreme Court, so yes go do your mob violence against the supreme court). This is the political power of the people. It would completely undermine the democratic principle if our elected representatives gave greater weight to the people who block the streets and chant than to the rest of the people who vote.

    It's this kind of mentality that has caused foriegn terrorism to blossim.

    All I can possibly say to that, is that compared to your reasoning, your spelling is exceptional.