Foreign policy isn’t the only thing the war bunch is experimenting with in Iraq. William Arkin writes on how they will also be messing with a new weapon:
Marines arriving in Iraq this month as part of a massive troop rotation will bring with them a high-tech weapon never before used in combat � or in peacekeeping. The device is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone so excruciating to humans, its boosters say, that it causes crowds to disperse, clears buildings and repels intruders.
“[For] most people, even if they plug their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine,” says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp., the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. “It will knock [some people] on their knees.”
Undoubtedly there are some situations where a nonlethal crowd dispersion device might be useful. But it can cause hearing loss and injure innocent people. Arkin rightly questions the ethical propriety in breaking out such a weapon without public debate. Who approves this kind of thing, anyway?
One also should question what might happen if this technology gets in the wrong hands–or what will happen when it inevitably gets into private sector commercial hands.
UPDATE: More on the Long Range Acoustic Device here.