Army gets new 'enhanced blast' weapon to fight Taliban

[TexasLawyer]

Source: The Guardian

Army gets new 'enhanced blast' weapon to fight Taliban

Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday August 23, 2007
The Guardian

British soldiers in Afghanistan are being supplied with a new "super weapon" to attack Taliban fighters more effectively, defence officials said yesterday. The "enhanced blast" weapon is based on thermobaric technology used in the powerful bombs dropped by the Russians to obliterate Grozny, the Chechen capital, and in US "bunker busters".

Defence officials insisted yesterday that the British bombs were different. "They are optimised to create blast ", one said, adding that it would be misleading to call them "thermobaric".

So-called thermobaric weapons have been used by the US against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban underground bases. Combined heat and pressure kill people over a wide area by sucking the air out of lungs and destroying internal organs.

Defence officials described the new weapon as a shoulder-launched "light anti-structure munition". They said the bombs would be more effective than conventional weapons such as anti-tank missiles which often miss their targets. Even when they hit the damage is limited to a confined area.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2154380,00.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Of course someone from the govt will be suggesting shortly that

we try these things out first on American citizens... isn't that how it goes?? I lie. n/t

[lovuian]

2. A weapon to sell to the Saudis China And anyone

with a large bank account

and then soon to be used against our soldiers

[Deja Q]

4. Business is said to be separate from national security.

:shrug:

[tabasco]

3. Must be a misprint. Bush said in 2003 that the Taliban was destroyed.

"We sent a clear message to the Taliban in Afghanistan: if you harbor and train terrorists, you will be held account. The Taliban is no more, and the people of Afghanistan are free, thanks to America and our friends and allies."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/20030619-2.html

The Commander Guy wouldn't lie to us, would he?

[Middle finga]

5. Just another weapon to kill more civilians with

How are you going to defeat an insurgency with the limited number of soldiers you have in Afghanistan? All you doing is bombing villages and killing innocent civilian. The western imperialist nations in the middle east need to pack up and take their asses home.

[GliderGuider]

6. Gaza was the test ground

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/17/israel-using-deadly-new-weapon/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fisrael%2FStory%2F0%2C%2C1924524%2C00.html&frame=true

Gaza doctors say patients suffering mystery injuries after Israeli attacks

Most of the injuries were around the abdomen, nearly a metre up from the ground, he said. The doctors also found that an injured patient who had been stabilised after one or two days, might suddenly die. "The patient dies without any apparent scientific cause," he said. "So far we don't know why."

At the Kamal Odwan Hospital, in Beit Lahiya, deputy director Saied Jouda, said he had found similar injuries. "We don't know what it means - new weapons or something new added to a previous weapon," he said. "We had patients who died after stabilisation and that is very unusual."

He too found patients with severe internal injuries without signs of any large shrapnel pieces. Often there was severe burning. "There was burning, big raw areas of charred flesh," he said. "This must be related to the type of explosive material."

Photographs of some of the dead from Shifa hospital showed bodies that had been melted and blackened beyond recognition. Others showed internal bleeding without signs of shrapnel wounds. In several cases doctors amputated badly burnt limbs.

IIRC, this weapon was also used in Lebanon last year.

Please read the entire article... if you have the stomach for it.

[bemildred]

7. I'm so glad we have time and money for this bullshit.

Like there was a big need for more effective bombs.