|
Home
|
Where Is Our Non-Lethal Warfare? Weapons from the exotic to the mundane Now that most of the organized opposition to U.S. forces has ended in Iraq, they are facing less organized street action - mobs and looting. Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated against the U.S. occupation of Iraq on Friday, the second Muslim day of prayer since the regime's collapse. In the center of the city, the Ministry of Information was in flames, apparently ignited by looters. Soldiers surrounded the 10-story building as looters tried to carry away a few last prizes. A recording played over Army loudspeakers, warning people in Arabic to leave the area "immediately or there will be consequences." At morning prayers, Sheik Ahmed al-Kubeisy rejected the troops' "occupation" and said American soldiers should leave the country soon, before Iraqis expel them, Arab news channel Al-Jazeera reported. Some folks are complaining that we don't have enough MPs to cope with the problem. Others say we need an international police force similar to what we used in Haiti. I wonder what happened to all the Marines trained over the past few years in non-lethal warfare The concept was designed to fill the gap between mere military presence in an area and full engagement. Non-lethal weapons are designed to provide the commander with options other than deadly force. Dr. John Alexander is generally credited with creating the idea. He entered the US Army as a private in 1956 and rose through the ranks to sergeant first class, attended OCS, and was a colonel of Infantry in 1988 when he retired. During his varied career, he held many key positions in special operations, intelligence, and research and development. From 1966 through early 1969 he commanded Special Forces “A” Teams in Vietnam and Thailand. His last military assignment was as Director, Advanced Systems Concepts Office, US Army Laboratory Command. After retiring from the Army, Dr. Alexander joined Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was instrumental in developing the concept of Non-Lethal Defense. As a program manager, he conducted non-lethal warfare briefings at the highest levels of government including the White House Staff, National Security Council, Members of Congress, Director of Central Intelligence, and senior Defense officials. He also met with heads of industry, and presented at academic institutions, including Columbia, Harvard and MIT. Alexander (along with Tom Clancy) authored the book "Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons In 21-st Century Warfare." He also chaired five major conferences on the subject. Weapons planned include the exotic - such as pulsed energy projectiles (appears to be something like phasers on stun), an active denial system (looks like a big, energy emitting antenna on a HMVEE), and high-energy lasers carried aboard C-130s - and the more mundane, including rubber bullets, shields, and water cannon. Non-lethal defense has been planned for all the armed services, but all of the reports I've seen (primarily on the Discovery Channel) covering the subject deal with Marine Corps (as do the above links.) At the beginning of the Afghanistan campaign, NPR reported the training, including non-lethal warfare, received by the 4th Expeditionary Brigade at Camp LeJeune. The Air Force has also closely studied the strategic and tactical feasibility of non-lethal warfare: Though traditional enemies remain, there will be adversaries amidst high-density civilian populations against whom we need new methods in applying force. Non-lethal weapons (NLWs) therefore are extremely important as part of the scheme in addressing the changing nature of conflict. My question - wouldn't Iraq be a good place to try out some of these ideas? Where are the guys who we've trained in this field? Are they there and working without being covered by reporters?
|
