http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/weapons/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Tue, 08 Aug 2006 05:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2739/unexploded_ordnance_our_legacy_in_laos/ As the years pass and the men who dropped the bombs expire in their beds, the rate at which Laotians die from U.S. unexploded ordnance (UXO) rises. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the millions of yellow cluster bombs that litter Laos have claimed more than three times as many dead as the World Trade Center attacks. Thanghon is one of the "lucky" thousands who have survived. Sitting in a wheelchair, she talked through a translator in Vientiane, the backwater capital of a backwater country that lies curled like a sleeping cat along the Mekong River. "I was working on the family farm and digging in the ground when a UXO exploded," she says. "Two of my friends died."… War and Peace Weapons David Sirota Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:07:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2831/why_pakistan_gets_a_nuclear_pass/ Why wait?" asked William Kristol in a July 24 Weekly Standard op-ed calling for a preemptive military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. "Does anyone think a nuclear Iran can be contained? That the current regime will negotiate in good faith? It would be easier to act sooner rather than later." By August, the usual array of neoconservative pundits were chanting the "Why wait?" mantra, as their supporters within the administration, most notably Donald Rumsfeld, issued dire warnings against "appeasement." Yet in the midst of saber-rattling, the Bush administration was quietly doing its own share of appeasing--in the literal, if not historical, sense. In late July, the Institute for Science and International Security issued a report revealing that Pakistan was building… International affairs politics government: administration weapons David Sirota Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2894/stunning_revelations/ TASER International Inc. maintains that its stun-guns are "changing the world and saving lives everyday." There is no question that they changed Jack Wilson's life. On Aug. 4, in Lafayette, Colo., policemen on a stakeout approached Jack's son Ryan as he entered a field of a dozen young marijuana plants. When Ryan took off running, officer John Harris pursued the 22-year-old for a half-mile and then shot him once with an X-26 Taser. Ryan fell to the ground and began to convulse. The officer attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Ryan died. According to his family and friends, Ryan was in very good physical shape. The county coroner found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system and ruled that Ryan's… corporations criminal justice weapons David Sirota Mon, 11 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2934/what_we_leave_behind/ In just one week in October, a series of bomb scares swept across Germany. Outside of Hannover, 22,000 people were evacuated when three bombs were discovered. A few days later in the same city, a weapons removal squad defused a 500-pound bomb found near the highway. Finally, a highway worker was killed when his cutting machine hit a buried bomb on the main highway into Frankfurt. The bombs hadn't been planted by terrorists, and they weren't the opening salvos of the next war. The culprit was unexploded ordnance left over from a war fought more than 60 years ago. "We'll have enough work to keep us busy for the next 100 to 120 years," the owner of a bomb-defusing company… weapons war David Sirota Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2978/on_lethal_weaponry_the_next_generation/ Plasma clouds, microwave beams, electrified bullets--military contractors have been developing futuristic new combat technologies under the public radar. Already, the TASER stun gun has emerged from the pages of speculative fiction, and into the hands of military, corrections, and law enforcement personnel (See "Stunning Revelations," November 2006). But stun technology is just one tool in the arsenal for developers of proposed "non-lethal" weapons. Guard that perimeter For the past several years, Taser International, Inc. has been testing products with the military market in mind. Most recently it has been working on Tasernet, a weapon it describes as a "non-lethal area denial and force protection system." In October, the Taser Remote Area Denial (T-RAD) concept was officially unveiled at the annual… weapons David Sirota Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3053/return_of_the_cold_war/ As if the Bush administration didn't already have its hands full with the "war on terror" spiraling out of control in Iraq and Afghanistan, its Jan. 20 announcement that it plans to expand the proposed U.S. missile defense system into the former Warsaw Pact nations Poland and the Czech Republic is threatening to re-kindle the Cold War. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out forcefully against the proposal, calling it emblematic of the United States' "increasing disregard for the fundamental principles of international law." In response, he threatened to pull Russia out of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, which spells out how many soldiers and how much military hardware can be deployed throughout the continent. Putin isn't… weapons russia europe David Sirota Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3064/for_israel_sake/ The more we examine the disaster that is the Bush administration's Middle East policy, the more apparent becomes the corrosive influence of Israel, or more accurately, of those U.S. officials acting on what they construe as Israel's best interests. Yet Congress is oddly unwilling to bring any investigative focus on the role of Israel's fervent supporters in instigating this deepening debacle. What makes this issue especially crucial is the well-established link between the Bush administration's neoconservative brain trust and Israel's right-wing government. Two members of Bush's neocon corps are now in the news for their attempts to warp intelligence to justify a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. In the past, both men (like many neocons) publicly advanced attacking Iraq to benefit… middle east weapons war on terror David Sirota Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3062/colombia_third_way/ Jorge Franco is a 54-year-old truck driver and a political paradox. On the one hand, he enthusiastically supports Colombia's right-wing president, Álvaro Uribe, who won reelection last May in a landslide. "Uribe pushed back the subversives and he's making the country safe again," Franco says. "That man truly wears pants. At the same time, Franco is disturbed by the ongoing economic injustice in Colombia, and he takes an open-minded approach toward the new nonviolent left-wing party, the Polo Democráctico Independiente (PDI), that continues to grow after finishing a surprising second in last year's election with 22 percent of the vote. He angrily dismisses the recent absurdly low increase in the minimum wage--imposed by Uribe--and says he will certainly consider voting… south america weapons military David Sirota Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3133/duck_and_cover/ Only days before the fifth anniversary of September 11, President George W. Bush addressed military officers in Washington to warn that nuclear-armed terrorists could "blackmail the free world and spread their ideologies of hate and raise a moral threat to America." This alarmist vision was accompanied by the White House's release of "A National Strategy for Combating Terrorism," which painted a picture of a "troubling potential WMD terrorism nexus emanating from Tehran." The administration is building the case for war against Iran--a job made easier by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent announcement that Iran can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale--despite the fact that many Iran-watchers and nuclear experts consider their claims of enrichment capacity to be an overblown boast.… administration national security weapons David Sirota Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3340/lets_pry_open_those_cold_dead_hands/ The national news polls suggest that the majority of Americans support more gun control. You wouldn't know it from the mail I get. Whenever I write about the plague of gun violence, I get a huge blowback from the gun lovers of America. The rabid response of the gun lobby is damning, but impressive. They out-gun, out-email, gun-control advocates by more than 20 to one. Their ability to organize a rapid response is exactly the opposite of FEMA. The gun army, made up almost exclusively of white men from suburban and rural areas, is loaded for bear. The People of the Gun are beating their drums on websites from Keepandbeararms.com in Washington State, to alphecca.com in Vermont. Every time a… gun control regulation weapons David Sirota Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3444/the_boy_who_cried_wmd/ There goes the Axis of Evil. On Dec. 3, news broke that 16 U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear arms efforts in 2003. You would think the report--known as the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)--would give Bush pause in his push for another war. You'd be wrong. At a Dec. 4 White House press conference, Bush said, "Iran is dangerous, and the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world. Quite the contrary." For years the Bush administration and its neoconservative buddies have been ratcheting the rhetoric against Iran. At an Oct. 17 press conference at the White House, Bush warned that Tehran's nuclear development could lead to… bush iran weapons David Sirota