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Forwarded from the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]:
From: Das GOAT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CTRL] A Kinder, Gentler Imperialism
Date: Sunday, October 24, 1999 7:27 AM
-Caveat Lector-
NATO selecting ``humane'' weapons for a Green era
By Douglas Hamilton
BRUSSELS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - If NATO ever has to repeat a Kosovo-style
coercion campaign in support of oppressed minorities, its pilots could be
launching superglues that stick tanks to the road, instead of missiles to
blow them up.
Instead of blasting highways with bombs, they could be coating them with
agents that destroy vehicle tyres. They could be playing low-frequency sound
tapes that make ground forces vomit, instead of shredding them with depleted
uranium bullets.
These soft techniques are aspects of a new generation of so-called
``non-lethal weapons'' being developed to take some of the death and
destruction out of low-level conflict.
They are also meant to widen the choices open to peacekeepers, cut
reconstruction bills, and spare the environment.
NATO allies recently announced their first policy statement on the use of
such weapons, preparing for the day that troops could be called on to use
them in tasks short of all-out war.
They include disorienting noise, painful ultra-sound, bad smells, skin
irritants, strobe lights, stun weapons, glue guns, sticky foam bombs,
eyesight dazzlers, microwaved ``minefields,'' nets, meshes, and immobilising
airbags.
``The idea is to enhance the range of options open to a NATO commander, not
to replace or undermine his authority to use lethal force,'' a NATO official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
SPARE THE INNOCENTS
``There's also a tremendous push after Kosovo to reduce collateral damage to
civilians and to protect the environment,'' the NATO official added.
The new policy, adopted in late September, applies to the development and
acquisition of ``weapons designed specifically for the purpose of minimising
fatalities, permanent injury...and undesired damage to property and the
environment'' even though they may have limited harmful effects.
A NATO internal document notes such weapons are politically sensitive because
they are anti-personnel and some are legally restricted or banned in warfare,
such as tear-gas.
``Some of these new techniques, although not lethal, are still pretty
frightening,'' the official said, citing the example of corrosive agents for
attacking optical equipment.
But he said it had been clear for some years that the alliance needed an
umbrella policy for the use of non-lethal arms as military functions changed
to encompass roles more like those traditionally carried out by riot police.
``Green'' voter constituencies in allied member states can also not be
ignored, and they are demanding that while coercion may be sometimes
necessary it need not always rely on high explosives and cause major
environmental problems.
Softer security could also relieve political pressures.
Microwave systems are being developed to fence off terrain in place of
landmines, aiming acoustic or other incapacitators at any intruder instead of
blowing legs off.
Having destroyed bridges over the River Danube in Serbia and vowing not to
help repair them until President Slobodan Milosevic departs the scene, the
allies now face warnings from Hungary that winter ice snagged on underwater
concrete hulks could block the river, flooding hundreds of towns.
Appeals for help will be politically hard to resist.
NO REPLACEMENT FOR GUNS
While trying to address demands for kinder, gentler forms of military
coercion, Western allies are anxious not to whet any naive appetite for
bloodless war that leaves no mess.
The NATO policy states that ``the availability of non-lethal weapons shall in
no way limit a commander's or individual's inherent right and obligation to
use all necessary means available and to take all appropriate action in
self-defence.''
There should be no obligation to use non-lethal means, no guarantee that they
will not kill, and no imposition of higher standards for using lethal force.
``In all cases NATO forces shall retain the option for immediate use of
lethal weapons consistent with applicable national and international law and
approved rules of engagement,'' the policy states.
Non-lethal weapons could increase NATO's leverage by deterring hostile groups
that gamble on the alliance not daring to risk using deadly force, or holding
back because of the risk of hurting civilians, the non-classified paper says.
They can be employed alongside highly lethal conventional weapons to give
troops a broader range of possible responses.
In situations short of war, where political, diplomatic, economic or
environmental demands may dictate methods used and lethal force is
unnecessary or inconsistent with the mission, they offer ways of putting
hostile forces or equipment temporarily out of action with a minimum of
damage.
The U.S. Coast Guard is already using non-lethal weapons against Caribbean
drug smuggling boats, dropping high-strength nets from helicopters and
employing sting bombs and malodorants.
Soft weapons also offer new ways to enforce a peace mandate.
In the 1992-95 Bosnia war, small groups of hostile civilians often thwarted
NATO troops of the United Nations Protection Force by barring the path of aid
convoys, daring heavily-armed soldiers to use firearms to break up their
blockades.
In Kosovo, NATO peacekeepers deployed with main battle tanks and mammoth
self-propelled guns in June, but quickly found mobs, arson and street
killings were their real problems.
Non-lethal weapons such as net-guns and glue guns were not issued to NATO's
Balkan peacekeepers in Bosnia or Kosovo because of their relative newness,
the NATO official said.
FROM CLAUSEWITZ TO SUN TZU
There is also resistance from the military. Troops in general do not want to
give up essential weapons for arms that are deliberately designed to have a
``low probability'' of killing, as the policy states.
``There has been a natural reluctance on the part of the military to adopt
systems that could challenge the soldier's conventional lethal capability,''
the official said.
There was also resistance to taking on tasks normally allotted to police
forces. But the official said it was clear that combat troops make the best
peacekeepers and so there was a ``certain inevitability'' to them being
handed more such jobs.
``Those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle,'' wrote the
ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu in ``The Art of War,'' a view contrasting
sharply with Prussian Carl von Clausewitz's theory of escalating,
overwhelming force.
Together with today's precision-guided munitions, non-lethal weapons point to
a conflict environment of the future in which bloodshed and destruction could
-- in theory -- be limited.
The European Union allies who helped bomb Yugoslavia will end up paying for
some of the damage, so lowering the cost of repair, as well as avoiding the
stigma of wilfully causing grave pollution, is an important objective.
Non-lethal weapons can already address such concerns.
In the Kosovo air war, the United States used a hitherto secret non-lethal
weapon, in the form of a carbon filament ``bomb'' that could short-circuit
the power supply without blowing up toxin-filled transformers, although this
was also done.
But pulling punches is not the only use for such weapons.
A U.S. military doctrine paper says they could ``augment economic,
information or military sanctions,'' degrade an adversary's ability to wage
war, facilitate quick military incursions, hostage rescues or anti-terrorist
operations.
Classic non-lethal weapons in past conflicts included displays of
overwhelming force -- real or fake -- spreading of disinformation, and
interfering with electronics.
The latter tactic can be taken a lot further in today's Information Age, but
``information operations'' are specifically not included under the umbrella
of NATO's new policy.
``With today's techniques of wrecking computers and electronic gear, these
methods may not be at all non-lethal. Think of the effects of paralysing
modern aircraft,'' a NATO source explained.
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==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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