Winning (and Losing) the First Wired War

Noah Shachtman writes "The Iraq war was launched on a theory: That, with the right networking gear, American armed forces could control a country with a fraction of the troops ordinarily needed. But that equipment never made it down to the front lines, David Axe (just back from his 6th trip to Iraq) and I note in this month's Popular Science. That's a problem, because the insurgents are using throwaway cellphones and anonymous e-mail accounts to stitch together a network of their own."

wired war

[Anonymous Coward]

Cellphones are wired now?

Jeez I must have an uber fancy one then...

But they're still getting spam emails somehow..

[Channard]

Wait, that's how terrorism is being funded. By Nigerian bankers. Damn you, Mr Obawutube - next time you send a missive asking for help getting six million dollars out of the country and offering half of it in return for someone's help, try adding a 'Are you a member of a Al Queda' Yes [ ] No [ ]' at the bottom.

there's a clear solution

[yagu]

If you've been reading the recent slashdot articles, and seen the decisive actions governments are considering, it's only a matter of time before these terrorists are reined in. All they need to do is quickly enact legislation that, among other things:

• requires all throwaway cellphones to be registered with the government
• outlaw anonymous e-mail accounts
• (and, from recent article) require all terrorists to register and provide any and all encryption keys
• (and, also from recent article) prohibit terrorists from using and having access to any network tools.

Sheeesh, how simple can this be?

im sick of the liberal media harping on mistakes

[Anonymous Coward]

what about all the things that are going right in iraq?

--your pal, sean hannity

Re:What do you mean by "control"

[cnettel]

As a bonus television makes your eyes focus on a very narrow depth of field which is surprising similar to a hypnotic state. Television is successful mostly because it puts people in a mildly hypnotic state during which they are prone to suggestions.

*staring at the screen* *feeling a bit dizzy* You're absolutely right!

Taste of Freedom

[DaFallus]

Iraq's slaves^H^H^H^H^H^H^H citizens, behold the fruit of your labours! The Mobile Oppression Palace! I don't need to tell you that occupation forces are expensive. But with the Mobile Oppression Palace our dignitaries can oppress your entire country for pennies a day.

Re:Signals Intelligence Gathering

[Tackhead]

> So bomb the houses of everyone in Baghdad named 'Ackbar' at the time of the supposed meeting...you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs after all

Yeah, Ackbar never caught on [elitemrp.net]

Re:Not to be contrarian or anything

[R3d M3rcury]

Silly you. You probably thought it was about WMDs, bringing democracy to Iraq, securing Iraqi oil supplies or some such nonsense. Actually, the plans for Iraq started as a bet between a couple of generals.

General #1: Y'know, I'll bet we could control a country with a fraction of the troops ordinarily needed if we just had the right networking gear.
General #2: You're full of shit.
General #1: Wanna bet?
General #2: You're on!

Now comes the more interesting question: What do you think the prize was? I'm thinking it was $1. [imdb.com]

Re:This is not news

[Ohreally_factor]

Remember, appropriate technology! For the jungle, you want a mesh network.

Link to Linux

[mangu]

how are we going to link this story to Linux?

Here [defensetech.org] you are. Notice the sentence about "...a Linux-based operating system, as opposed to Windows. 'Evidence shows that Linux is more stable. We are moving in general to where the Army is going, to Linux-based OS,'" says the program's manager, Lt. Col. Dave Gallop".

Re:So...

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux = Free
America = Free (well kinda sorta, in a round about way, well it's deminishing, but we can still breath without permission...but you probably shouldn't breath too much at once, someone might think your a terrorist.)

Re:Not to be contrarian or anything

[Alien Being]

Generals, please... there's no fighting in the war room.

Re:When does free flow of information become TMI?

[Da Masta]

And how did they find out he was a virgin?

Because he was trying to load Slashdot on that same glowing touchscreen?