02nd Oct 2002
U.S. Uses Death Ray in Afghanistan
Peter Maass doesn’t post often, but when he does, it’s good. Nick and Elizabeth beat me to it, but if you haven’t seen it yet, Peter points out that according to a PBS documentary, U.S. Special Forces attribute victory in Afghanistan in part due to a myth of a U.S. “death ray.”
Because the U.S. was using laser-guided bombs, the Special Forces apparently would let Northern Alliance commanders watch through night-vision binocolars where they would see lasers beaming down followed by explosions. The U.S. soldiers led their allies to believe this was a death ray capible of untold destruction. Rumor of the sci-fi weapon reached Taliban fighters who would occasionally give themselves up when the Northern Alliance threatened to call into play the terrifying device.
Quoth one officer interviewed: “This whole situation is like the Flintstones meet the Jetsons.”
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