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Finding an ISIS Training Camp Using Google Earth

Posted by Soulskill on from the bet-you-wished-you'd-stuck-to-word-of-mouth dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Terrorist organization ISIS has been in the news a lot lately for their hostile activities in Iraq and Syria. They've also been very active online, posting propaganda and photos on various social networking sites to try to recruit more members. Frequently, they'll have pictures of themselves in nondescript locations — but even carefully selected images give clues to a real location. Citizen journalists at Bellingcat analyzed a group of these photos, comparing buildings and bridges in the background to images from Google Earth. With very little to go on, they were able to pinpoint the location of a terrorist training camp.

6 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. I'm looking now by cyberchondriac · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I see is a big smoking crater..

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    1. Re:I'm looking now by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      . . . the trouble is . . . the training camp is probably conveniently located right next to a hospital or a school.

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      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:I'm looking now by ShaunC · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Kurds helped those people on the mountain escape to Turkey (likely with clandestine US involvement as well). ISIS was actually using Turkey's old embassy in Mosul to hold some Turks hostage for awhile, so it's no surprise that this training camp turned up in Mosul. Neat detective work tracking it down, though.

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      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  2. Time to build a cruise missile and send it over by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, after that sawing off a live man's head, I have NO problem with blowing these assholes away. In fact, I would be happy to pull the trigger to launch.

    Now, the real question is, did this interfere with an on-going operation? I would hate to think that showing them how easy it is to find out info from their propaganda would stop its flow.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Time to build a cruise missile and send it over by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Islam has been at war with everyone else from its inception. The West had to do nothing to incur their wrath. In fact, they need the West so they can claim to be victims and prepare their followers to die for Islam...and virgins...don't forget the virgins. Apparently, Heaven is full of them just waiting for a bunch of hairy, smelly jihadis.

      You do realize that a sizable portion of the world's Muslims live in The West, right?

      I think you're confusing Islam with a particular politically motivated Islamic sect -- kind of like people do with the Crusades, Westboro, calling the US a Christian country that abuses its power, etc.

      It's not that religions are at war with everyone; it's that they can be easily abused for political gain, if care is not taken to prevent this.

  3. Re:How do they know who's camp it is? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you RTFA, you'd see that they referenced ISIS PR videos, so it's not just "oh that looks like it might be training camp" but "these geo features from the videos correspond exactly to this thing here on the map" type of analysis.