How Tech Almost Lost the War

An anonymous reader writes "Blame the geeks for the mess in Iraq? Wired says so. Networked troops were supposed to be so efficient, it'd take just a few of 'em to wipe out their enemies. But the Pentagon got their network theory all wrong, with too few nodes and a closed architecture. Besides, a more efficient killing machine is the last thing you want in an insurgency like Iraq."

Comments

!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

JESUS! Help me KILL more people FASTER!!!

This is the answer to my prayer! KILL MORE! Kill FAST!

God, this give me a boner! Thank you, Jesus, for my fast, fast, fast killing machines!

This is the American f*cking dream! I can SMELL the baby corpses this thing makes FASTER than EVER! I worship this killing SPEED machine!

Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[Creepy Crawler]

In response, one of the YouTube videos that was aired on the Repblican National Debate: here.

Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[MarsDefenseMinister]

OK, you lieberals seem to think two things are funny. One, making fun of Jesus, the only enlightened philosopher. Two, undermining our troops. And you seem to be unable to make a point without foul language. And this gets moderated insightful?

Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[MarsDefenseMinister]

You might think you haven't used a profanity, but by considering God the creator of the universe as the same as other gods, you've profaned yourself, and His name. There's plenty of evidence for Jesus, he is coming back, and he will sit at the head of the table of the world and rule in perfect peace and justice. That's the difference between God and god.

Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[MarsDefenseMinister]

I'll pray for you.

Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!!

[MarsDefenseMinister]

The answers to all your questions are in the Bible, the word of God.

Re:Killing in War = Good Soldier and Good Equipmen

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

KILL! KILL! KILL!

I am good man! God loves the kill! Baby guts!

Re:Blame the Geeks?

[greg_barton]

"A more efficient killing machine" in modern military parlance is a machine that strikes more of the right targets and fewer of the wrong targets.

Firing a tank round down the street in an urban area (as the parent post suggested) doesn't strike me as efficient in that regard.

Re:Blame the Geeks?

[LynnwoodRooster]

Which is why Iraq is rapidly stabilizing, the local government and police are the main source of identifying the terrorists, people are moving back to Iraq by the millions, and the casualty rate of coalition forces is at an all time low?

Yeah, I guess we're losing, huh...

It is their DUTY to kill US soldiers

[Nicolas MONNET]

They're resisting an occupation, it is not just their right, it is their DUTY to resist a foreign occupation.
Don't like it? Just get the fuck out.

Re:Actually....

[Das Modell]

It wouldn't help since the troops are fighting against terrorists, not average people. Many of the terrorists aren't even Iraqis, but foreign Jihadists. Your idea is a naive oversimplification. Infidels and Muslims can't even get along when there isn't a war (or rather, Muslims can't get along with infidels).

even simpler

[doktorjayd]

just stop trying to steal their oil?

too easy perhaps? :(

Re:Actually....

[slashdot_commentator]

So let me see if I got this straight...

You want to give an OLPC to every Iraqi, including every Al-Queda member, Sunni and Shiite insurgent, and give them the ability to set off bombs remotely, have cells communicate by texting, and swamp specific network sites with garbage traffic from zombie PCs?

I'd say you're at least thinking, but Paul Bremer was a user with great ideas. They included turning Iraq into a Libertarian paradise, disenfranchise competent Sunnis from the gov't, and disband the Iraqi military. Frankly, I'm kinda sick of great ideas without thinking them out.