Pentagon Recalls Non-Lethal Microwave “Pain Ray” From Afghanistan

By Michael Crowley | @CrowleyTIME | July 20, 2010 | +

AP Photo

A weird and fascinating little tale from Wired‘s Danger Room:

Active Denial has long been considered the “Holy Grail” of crowd control, for its ability to penetrate just a 64th of an inch underneath the skin, and inspire people to move — fast — from the pain that ensued. To Active Denial’s boosters, that made the largely non-lethal weapon safer, more humane alternative to the M-16. But this counterinsurgency is, in many ways, a battle of perceptions. The system’s tactical advantages are far outweighed by the strategically-massive propaganda boost that the pain ray would’ve given the Taliban.

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pintortwo

The technology has been in development for two decades, and has cost well in excess of $60 million.
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chupkar

Well, first off, you should give it another name than “pain ray”. Sounds like something out of Flash Gordon. Call them…..motivation beams or something.
http://www.124monkeys.com Sean DeCoursey forgot his password

Two things, first, there’s no such thing as a non-lethal weapon. The correct term is “less than lethal” because Tasers and CS gas and Beanbags and even handcuffs do kill people every so often.
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Second, there were also issues with the devices workability in Afghanistans decentralized countryside and there are other issues with the devices cost to benefit ratio.
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Plus, as noted, the thing is a PR disaster waiting to happen.
http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

Pain Ray?

Why don’t they just take Sarah Palin’s speeches and put them over a loudspeaker. That should induce severe nausea and repel a crowd in no time flat.
newfreedomblog

Could we aim it at Washington and everytime one of the crooks down there lies or steals our money we get to turn it on them?
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Maybe there is a 2nd one someplace we can also aim at the lame stream media everytime they write a stupid story like this or one about Sarah Palin.
53_3

And I thought $900 hammers and 30 pills for $999.25 were excessive.
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A $5,000,000 microwave??!?
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Oh well.
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At least the mess crew will be able to cook one hell of a lot of hot dogs from 500 feet away…
maverick2k9

How is “machine” different from torture and water boarding?
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Seems like collective punishment + torture rolled into one.
newfreedomblog

This is torture. Liberal/progressive-style. What’s next, eugenics???
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http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

Give it a rest rusty.
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You’ve been non-stop today.
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Why don’t you have a relaxing dinner with your wife and kids, rent a movie and enjoy yourself for a little while?
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You, obviously, are looking to antagonize the vast majority of us who disagree with you and that is not the best use of time.
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I just saw 2012 last night.
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It was pretty good. It was a little familyish in some ways, but, a good movie for, I would say, kids 12 and older and not too dumb for adults.
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BTW: It is not about a Sarah Palin presidential victory, so, it’s not too scary for Democrats, but, the POTUS is black. I hope that doesn’t give you nightmares.
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Seriously, enjoy something besides this blog for just a few hours.
http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

Look, Rusty, I am a pro-life Democrat, but, just give it a rest.
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Roe vs Wade is unlikely to be overturned in the next 25 to 75 years, if not longer, so, I really don’t think anybody wants to see bloody surgery at dinnertime, thank you.
maverick2k9

Wait.. what??
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So is abortion now a liberal/progressive thing?
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What next? Is being gay,black/hispanic a liberal/progressive thing?
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OT: In the words of Sharron Angle, I guess the fact that Dick Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian and that he has a bad heart, is god’s way of punishing him for being too conservative.
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So Rusty, I don’t know what punishment awaits you.
nflfoghorn

Mav @ 7.2: If Freep/Rust ever goes to Hell, I bet it won’t be half as hot as the heat we’re putting on him!
http://2thirdsrocks.wordpress.com 2thirdsrocks

I suggest you take your own advice fartrick.
grape_crush

The technology has been in development for two decades, and has cost well in excess of $60 million.
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And can be defeated with…tinfoil.
53_3

sparking…
53_3

I say we should toast his shriveled excuse of a heart on a stick…
stuartzechman

Rustyblog:
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You do know that those last claims –the ones about increased risk, right before the slick “expose the lies” graphic– were completely false, right?

Health risks
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See also: Health risks of unsafe abortion
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Abortion, when legally performed in developed countries, is among the safest procedures in medicine.[33][34] In such settings, risk of maternal death is between 0.2–1.2 per 100,000 procedures.[35][36][37][38]
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Women who have uterine anomalies, leiomyomas or had previous difficult first-trimester abortion are contraindicated to undertake surgical abortion unless ultrasonography is immediately available and the surgeon is experienced in its intraoperative use.[54] Abortion does not impair subsequent pregnancies, nor does it increase the risk of future premature births, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, or miscarriage.[34]
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In the first trimester, health risks associated with medical abortion are generally considered no greater than for surgical abortion.[55]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion#Health_risks
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Look it up yourself, it’s right there in Wikipedia. It took me thirty seconds.
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Whether or not it’s your personal or religious belief that an innocent person is being murdered by the procedure, the last portion of this infomercial, in which it was claimed that abortion introduces scary, awful and huge risks to future pregnancies, was categorically untrue.
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If the activists who made this messaging promo knew what they were saying was false, then that means the makers of “expose the lies” were grotesquely immoral liars themselves.
kevin

When you all are done trying to reason with Rusty, maybe you can try teaching calculus to a cocker spaniel.
m0mentom0ri

Thanks, stuart.
http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

“fartrick.”
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Please.
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Newfreedomblog was previously known as Rustyreturns. Hence “Rusty” is not an insult but a nickname (very possibly a name friends call him).
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If you didn’t act like a fourth grader, I might have some respect for you since you, unlike Earl (who knows less than I do about medicine and nurses and medics all know more than I do) who claims to be a doctor and freeinpa who claims to be a chemical engineer (my mom is a chemist my late father was an engineer – I picked up enough to know that he is not who he says he is) you have been brutally honest about who you are.
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But then you come up with fourth grade dumb things to say like that.
http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

“If the activists who made this messaging promo knew what they were saying was false, then that means the makers of “expose the lies” were grotesquely immoral liars themselves.”
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That is why I am nor expect to be a part of any organized pro-life group.
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When I was 19 I met a pro-lifer who, despite looking like a hippie to me, was an actual John Bircher.
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He gave me a book and I realized that the pro-life movement has an extremely bad habit of allying themselves with some very strange and dangerous people.
centfan

A rolled up newspaper got my spaniel through differential equations. Now I steal his notes.
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As far as the pain ray (or Omni-directional Urban Crowd Handler) what does this have to do with IED’s or gunfights with the Taliban? How many rock throwing riots with dissatisfied Afghanis have resulted in troop deaths? Isn’t the vehicle more likely to be blown up by a roadside bomb than be used effectively to stop a lethal attack on American or NATO units?
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I think they should ship a few to the Seattle streets for the next G12 summit to use on all the hooded goons busting windows. I’d like to see them fry…
merlanai

For reals?! A Pain Ray? Not a Death Ray or an Ice Beam? (That’s all Johnny Snow.)