-Caveat Lector- Mon 20 Jan 2003
Controversial 'lightning' weapon could cripple Iraqi war machine JACQUI GODDARD AMERICA has developed a new weapon capable of crippling Saddam Hussein’s war machine by unleashing powerful man-made lightning strikes. Known as the HPM - High Powered Microwave - it has been created under a top-secret Pentagon programme aimed at revolutionising the US military’s warfare techniques, Time magazine reports. HPMs are artificial lightning bolts packed inside cruise missiles, with the potential to deliver as much electricity in a single flash as the Hoover Dam generates in one day - more than two billion watts. As it homes in on its target, the missile discharges an energy pulse that moves at the speed of light, destroying all electronic gadgetry and computer equipment within 1,000ft of the ultimate flash by blowing out circuits and memory chips. The effect is similar to that of a lightning strike on a household television or computer, which can be burned out by a storm-wave of electricity surging in through the wiring. As America prepares to lead a war against Iraq, senior military officials have hinted that they have a new weapon at their disposal, triggering speculation that HPMs are now in production. Details of their development at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have been kept under tight wraps. The electro- magnetic pulses can travel deep into caves, buried bunkers, plumbing systems and ventilation shafts. The so-called energy bombs or "e-bombs" could be of great value in incapacitating Saddam Hussein’s military communications. But there is concern that they may also wreak devastating collateral damage, as they can also affect life support systems in hospitals and heart pacemakers. "Like blinding lasers, like anti-personnel mines, like cluster bombs, there are weapons out there which are on the edge of whether or not they cause unnecessary suffering or are indiscriminate or fail to comply with our obligations under international humanitarian law," said William Arkin, military advisor to the organisation Human Rights Watch. This article: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=72822003 More War with Iraq?: http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=518 Websites: Dossiers on Iraqi WMD & human rights abuses http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1032455026312 FCO - Policy towards Iraq http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394374 FCO site - Britain, UNSCOM & Iraq http://special.fco.gov.uk/ UN - Office of the Iraq Programme http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/ US Dept of State - Iraq Update http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/ Iraqi Presidency http://www.uruklink.net/iraq/ Iraq Watch http://www.iraqwatch.org John Pilger on Iraq http://pilger.carlton.com/iraq A<:>E<:>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. 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