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Star Wars in Iraq a Reality?
Italian channel's inquiry sheds light on new weapons
Roberto Spiezio (seong)
Science fiction fans are used to dealing with extremely advanced technologies, like laser weapons, space fighters, and death rays, which are all taken for granted and even expected in the fantastic world created by the cosmic fantasizing of writers and playwrights.
According to some, however, this world may be less fictional than we think.
What would you say if someone told you that laser weapons do in fact exist? What would you think if someone told you the "Death Ray" actually does exist? What would you think if someone told you these weapons were used in military operations?
This is what seems to emerge from an inquiry by Maurizio Torrealta and Sigfrido Ranucci, two well-known and esteemed journalists working for Italian state-run television, RAI TV.
Ranucci had already exposed the use of white phosphorus by the U.S. military in Iraq during the two sieges of Fallujah but didn't stop investigating the lesser-known aspects of the counter-insurgency war.
The results of the inquiry are contained in a documentary entitled "Star Wars In Iraq" and broadcast on all-news channel Rainews24.
The Iraqi Violinist
Majid Al Ghezali is the first person to appear in the film. He plays the violin in the Baghdad orchestra and is a respected member of the community. The account he gives of what he saw at the time of the battle to take Baghdad airport in 2003 sounds terrible and unbelievable: "They [the Americans] shot the bus...We saw the bus...like wet clothes...it seemed like a [small coach] Volkswagen...a big bus suddenly like a Volkswagen."
The terrain near the airport where the mysterious weapon is said to have been used showed several anomalies: fused pieces of metal and graves of a reduced size where corpses were buried that were then exhumed.
Speaking of three dead people he saw in a car, the musician adds, "There wasn't any bullet...I saw the teeth, just the teeth and no eyes...all of them...with their bodies...nothing for the bodies...the heads were burned."
The documentary affirms the battleground was dug up by the U.S. military and replaced with fresh soil.
The corpses not hit by projectiles shrank "to slightly more than one meter (39 in.) in height," which is confirmed by Al Ghezali himself. Asked what kind of weapon he thought was used, he replied, "One year later (2004) we heard that they used a unique one (technology)...like lasers."
The Iraqi Doctor
Saad Al Falluji, chief surgeon at Hilla's General Hospital near the archaeological site of Babylon, talks about events occurring at nearly the same time as those in Baghdad. His gruesome testimony was reported by a Belgian volunteer in another video, "Twenty-six in the bus...about twenty of them...some of them have no head...some of them arms, legs...the only one uninjured was the driver...really I don't know how he reached our hospital...very miserable…."
The interviewer asks whether the doctor had any idea of what kind of weapon had attacked the bus, and the surgeon replied, "We didn't know what kind of weapon hit...really what we saw...cut arms...cut legs…." Nobody in the hospital could identify what type of weapon was used. No trace of bullets was found in the bodies.
The bus was very crowded as it approached an American checkpoint. Warned to get back, the bus was maneuvering, but, according to Al Falluji, the military started shooting at it. And he concludes, "I don't think the bombing and the cluster bombs and the laser weapons could bring democracy to our country."
Star Wars on Planet Earth
Do laser weapons exist? It seems so. In America, there are a number of ordnance industries producing a new generation of weapons, not based on kinetic energy like common firearms hitting a target with some type of projectile, but based on light radiation and microwaves, called DEW-Directed Energy Weapons.
THEL In Action
©2006 Northrop/Grumman
According to Rainews24, one of them is THEL, the Tactical High Energy Laser, developed by Northrop-Grumman. Using a high-power laser beam, the primary purpose of this weapon is air defense and has been tested against bullets and missiles in flight.
Further types of DEW might include:
ABL-Airborne Laser- is mounted on a modified Boeing 747 and used to destroy ballistic missiles.
High-Energy Laser-HEL-is said to have been developed to destroy enemy satellites in space.
Reports exist about the use of the so-called ZEUS laser, mounted on a Humvee Jeep, and probably used in Afghanistan to destroy land mines there and in Iraq.
PIKL-Pulsed Impulsed Kill Laser-is a lethal weapon based on a technology first developed by scientist Nikola Tesla in the 1940s. Through an air ionization process, it can "shoot" an energy "projectile" made up of electrons, neutrons, and protons. The U.S., Israel, and Australia are said to have it in an advanced stage of development.
PEP-Pulsed Energy Projectile-is considered the non-lethal version of PIKL. The purposes of this weapon would be to restore public order and control checkpoints. This ray apparently can daze humans and animals, causing heavy pain and temporary paralysis.
Vehicle-mounted ADT Concept
©2006 AFRL
Similar in purposes and effects is ADT-Active Denial Technology-based on microwaves. Mounted on Humvees, for example, this weapon can generate an invisible beam that, if used against humans, produces an intense pain, supposedly making people flee and desist from hostile actions. There is no record of its actual utilization in combat operations, but according to Defense Industry Daily, as mentioned by Rainews24, three "Sheriff" vehicles equipped with ADT produced by Raytheon, have been ordered. General James Huggings, Chief of Staff of the multinational force in Iraq, is said to have asked for 14 more vehicles to be provided.
The Truth Is Out There
According to William Arkin, former analyst at the Pentagon, and now a journalist for the Washington Post, the U.S. spends about half a billion dollars per year on Directed Energy Weapons.
Does all this demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt that the military used that kind of weapon in Iraq?
Do the anomalous marks found on the ground near Baghdad airport and the chilling testimonies by staffers at Hilla's General Hospital prove the massive and indiscriminate utilization of directed energy weapons against civilians?
After watching the documentary, which is publicly available even in English on the Rainews24 website, anyone can form his or her own opinion.
But if we want to believe the results of the Torrealta and Ranucci inquiry, there are strong and consistent clues about the existence of new and technologically advanced weapons and about their utilization in a war zone. The role of the journalist — exposing facts to the public — ends here. Now it's up to international organizations and institutions to evaluate the facts in light of laws and conventions to verify whether and at what stage something illegal has been developed and deployed.
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