Good News in Iraq! US Troops will Now BLIND People At Checkpoints!

[leftchick]

as opposed to shooting and killing them!

<snip>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. military has given troops in Iraq a laser device to temporarily blind drivers who ignore warnings at vehicle checkpoints, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, defended its use as legal and said the devices were intended to prevent civilians from being shot.

"There have been numerous incidents that tragically have resulted in civilian deaths" in which drivers approaching U.S. military checkpoints have failed to heed warnings from troops, who in some cases have opened fire, he said.

The U.S. military is fitting some M-4 rifles used by U.S. forces in Iraq with a tube-shaped device that is about 10 1/2 inches (27 cm) long that shines a laser beam. Venable stressed that the devices do not cause permanent blindness.

"They don't blind people. It's like shining a big light in your eyes," Venable said. "I think the term is optical incapacitation -- dazzlers as opposed to something that will blind you."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/18/iraq.lasers.reut/index.html

[rzemanfl]

1. And they won't be able to find the detonator for the car bomb if

they can't see????

[Boredtodeath]

2. And, uh.......

Did anyone think about what happens when a BLIND person is driving a car which has just accelerated to break through the checkpoint?????????

How many innocents can a blinded driver kill?

[leftchick]

3. I don't think they care

this is another defense contractor money making deal. LIVES do not count!

[Boredtodeath]

6. That's clear

It's also a criteria to being in the Bush Administration.

Skills Required:

1. Never consider the consequences of your actions. Remember the infamous Fearless Leader quote: "Who cares what you think."

[txindy]

12. I wondered about that, too. They're blinding drivers of moving cars.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[seriousstan]

4. Here it is.....

[Harper_is_Bush]

5. That sounds like a good thing to me.

[Boredtodeath]

7. Yeah, we probably all should run out and buy one

For when the FEDS come knocking on our doors. If we blind them, we can get away!

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. Well I guess that is better than blowing them up?

Way to win hearts and minds. :sarcasm:

[peekaloo]

9. We're blinding them....WITH SCIENCE!

hit them with technology.

:hide:

[karlrschneider]

10. Well, not that it is a -good- thing by any means, l think it's less bad

than a bullet to the head. But I have a $20 "5-million candlepower" * handheld spotlight that will temporarily 'blind' someone...for half a minute or so.

*so the owner's manual says, but it's damn bright...and rechargable.
Wonder how much those laser thingys cost...

[heartofthesiskiyou]

11. Oh My...How Humane