US military demonstrates new toy: heat ray

[Aaron]

Try and often fail, I suppose, given various incidents. If you were a sadist, wouldn't you like that kind of job? (and don't try to construct this as if I had said that you need to be a sadist to desire to be a soldier)

Unfortunatly sometimes it's found that some members are sadists and by the time it's found out it's to late to do anything about it but punish them. In an organisation as large as the military it's inevitable. Believe me I desire as much as the next person that these people get caught and weeded out before they do something wrong. The nature of the military is such that it will always attract a certain amount of fucknuggets.

[Lord of the Abyss]

That hasn't stopped us yet from using terror tactics.

Such as?

"Shock and Awe" sound familiar ? Torture ?

I can't say that I'm a fan of the Iraq war or of some of the US tactics in the war but at least their not blowing up cars in markets.

No, we use cluster bombs and such instead. Then we interpet superior weapons as superior morality.

And I can buy a nail-gun fairly easily from a hardware store, with which I could put inch-long iron spikes into peoples' skulls...OR, y'know, fasten hardware-y stuff. The fact that a tool may be used for some purpose other than that for which it is intended does NOT change its usefulness when it is utilised correctly.

What makes you think that it's unofficial intended purpose is not torture ? When hear/read other people off this board talk about this, one of the first things that come up is when it will be used for torture.

And a nail gun would hardly make a good instrument of mass torture. Just because you can use most anything for torture doesn't make everything equally efficient, and the first thing that comes to mind when I read about this is "mass torture device".

So when in recent American History (Hell, when ever) has the Military specifically cordoned off a crowd so they had no where to run so we can kill?

Never, because there's no point. You can't run away after being shredded by shrapnel or a machine gun. I'm talking about torture, not killing.

Despite what it says, I can't imagine a heat ray turned on a crowd for an extended period of time (say, the several hours it takes to interview detainees) without ill effects.

Like we would care.

Americans have proven over and over in Iraq that we as a group are ruthless and sadistic. I'm simple asking myself, what will people like that do with a machine like this ? We've already tortured people, so saying we wouldn't do such things is silly.

[tim31]

When I saw the title I envisaged the weapon mounted on a three legged walking machine.

But a really cool b-movie weapon come to life? Somone make a sonic-technobabble gun that blows peoples clothes off.

[Gil Hamilton]

"Mass Crowds with no means of escape or cover".

Okay, in what situation could that happen, exactly?

I suppose if crowds decided to have a riot in an unfilled giant wave pool like we have around here? At the deep end? With the side ladders removed due to obscure Islamic religious convictions?

[Darth Servo]

But a really cool b-movie weapon come to life? Somone make a sonic-technobabble gun that blows peoples clothes off.

You just need a strong wind-machine for that.

[Lonestar]

Never, because there's no point. You can't run away after being shredded by shrapnel or a machine gun.

Your powers of observation amaze even me.

I'm talking about torture, not killing.

Really? Not too long ago you said:

Any open ( no cover ) place with walls or fences or dropoffs or ranks of soldiers on the edges not facing the weapon. That's another thought; we could use it to stampede crowds of people into soldiers who would be "forced" to open fire in "self defense". We could even make sure the embedded media is standing at the right angle to film the charging mob, but not see the weapon they are fleeing from; the beam's invisible, after all. Or it could be beamed down into an enclosure full of detainees, to "pacify" them and soften them up for "interrogation".

Obviously, the first thing your mind went to was "Yarr, they're gonna use this herd the brown folks so they can kill 'em! Baby Killers!". The last sentence seems to have just been thrown in there.

Like we would care.

As amazing as it seems to a small mind such as yourself, yes, we would care. We would just care more if our guys were hurt because we didn't use the non-fatal heat-ray to break up a rioting crowd. It's meant to replace tear gas and rubber bullets, which have a shorter range. And of course, those two things have been known to cause "stampedes" too.

Americans have proven over and over in Iraq that we as a group are ruthless and sadistic.

Well, I was never in Iraq. I do know that the Tsunami relief was nothing but a smoke screen so us Sailors and Marines could get our rocks off attaching car batteries to Sumatran private parts. Also, no doubt Coyote...Talen..Wilkins... and WP are part of the vast conspiracy on the Iraqi side.


Coincidently, we really have proved nothing. All we proved is that a bunch of under trained undermanned Guardsman didn't have a damn clue as to how to properly treat detainees. Not exactly a widespread commentary on the occupation at large. Hell, in Fiasco (on the Abu Gharib chapter) it opens with Marines(and no doubt you get your sole impression of them from Full Metal Jacket) watching the story breaking on CNN, and an E4 saying to an O8 "Some assholes just lost the war for us".

I'm simple asking myself, what will people like that do with a machine like this ?

Use it as designed? Unless you're actually suggesting an American serviceman is going to disassemble the damn thing, bring it inside a prison, re-assemble it, and haul it around without the benefit of a vehicle just to "torture" someone, then you really have no clue about the proud tradition of "why are we going to make shit harder than it has to be?" that happens in the US Armed Services. Especially when much more traditional methods of torture are smaller and easier to carry around, and can inflict as much if not more pain.

We've already tortured people, so saying we wouldn't do such things is silly.

It's a given we're going to mistreat detainees. Doesn't mean we (1) have to like it and (2) not pursue the guys who mistreated them to the fullest extent of the law.

The problem I have with your most recent frothing at the mouth is the automatic assumption that this was designed with torture expressly in mind. Your posting history, both in this thread and others, leaves no doubt to me the gist and true Intent of your series of posts: That if the United States DoD created it, it has a more nefarious means than the stated purpose.