Energy beam weapon could be used in Iraq

MSNBC : Since 2003 US military leaders repeatedly and urgently requested âmdash; and were denied âmdash; an energy beam weapon called the Active Denial System. The device, which is perched on a Humvee or a flatbed truck, has a range of 500 yards and uses directed-energy beams that can penetrate a few millimeters under the skin causing pain. As the soldiers train it on a crowd, the pain makes them disperse."I am convinced that the tragedy at Fallujah would not have occurred if an Active Denial System had been there,” Air Force science advisor Gene McCall told Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to an e-mail obtained by Associated Press. The system should become “an immediate priority,” McCall said.However, the international red cross and other non-profit organizations, and other governments have a number of concerns related to the deployment of energy-based weapons, including whether such devices break the Geneva Convention on torture and the convention on conventional weapons . See also an earlier Physics Today news pick on laser blinding weapons being deployed to Iraq. Laser blinding weapons in Iraq Federation of American Scientists web site on the Convention on Conventional Weapons convention on conventional weapons web site Active Denial System wikipedia entry