Wired magazine reported on October 10th that the US Army is buying five of these truck mounted Active Denial Systems for $25 million. This, in combination with movements of the BCT, martial law possibilities, the erosion of privacy etc are truly cause for concern and need to be watched closely. Threat Level Orange, IMHO.
Source: globalresearch.ca
The ADS will support a full spectrum of operations ranging from non-lethal methods of crowd and mob dispersal, checkpoint security, perimeter security, area denial, port protection, infrastructure protection and clarification of intent (identifying combatants from non-combatants). Most currently available non-lethal weapons use kinetic energy, where the size and range of the target can limit or change the effectiveness of the weapon. The range of the ADS is 10 times greater than other non-lethal weapons and will have the same compelling non-lethal effect on all human targets, regardless of size, age and gender. (”Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Active Denial System,” Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, no date) [emphasis added]
Yet despite these risks, the National Institute of Justice in a cool “risk-benefit” analysis worthy of Dr. Mengele, is very much interested in a “hand-held, probably rifle-sized, short range weapon that could be effective at tens of feet for law enforcement officials.”
As global capitalism enters a new and potentially “terminal” phase of its disintegration, the U.S. ruling class and their European “partners” will increasingly resort to escalating levels of violence–from the criminalization of dissent to martial law–should “domestic terrorist” threats “get out of hand.” A general deployment of “non-lethal weapons” for use in “homeland” cities clearly has a prominent role to play along this repressive continuum. As Durham University geographer Stephen Graham avers,
Those experiencing frequent ‘terrorist’ labelling by national governments or sympathetic media since 9/11 include anti-war dissenters, critical researchers, anti-globalization protestors, anti-arms-trade campaigners, ecological and freedom of speech lobbyists, and pro-independence campaigners within nations like Indonesia allied to the US. Protagonists of such a wide spectrum of opposition to transnational US dominance are thus all too easily dehumanized or demonized. Above all, they become radically delegitimized. Who, after all, will speak out in favour of ‘terrorists’ and their sympathizers? (”Cities and the ‘War on Terror’,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Volume 30.2, June 2006, p. 257)
And so it goes during the never-ending “Year Zero” of the Bush regime. Silent Guardian: Coming soon to a city near you!
“Active Denail System”, Police State
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