Identity Dominance: the US Military's Biometric War In Afghanistan 83
Advocatus Diaboli (1627651) writes "For years the U.S. military has been waging a biometric war in Afghanistan, working to unravel the insurgent networks operating throughout the country by collecting the personal identifiers of large portions of the population. A restricted U.S. Army guide on the use of biometrics in Afghanistan obtained by Public Intelligence provides an inside look at this ongoing battle to identify the Afghan people."
Does that make Obama a "neocon"? (Score:3, Informative)
>> The neoconservatives know better than to let a perfectly good crisis go to waste
Does that make Obama a "neocon"? (If he really wanted us out of those places, he'd have done it by now.)
BTW, the "never let a good crisis go to waste" quote is frequently attributed to Obama's former chief of staff and long-time Chicago associate Rahm Emanuel:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quo... [brainyquote.com]
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That's fair, considering Bush II was a liberal.
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>He's also well to the right of most republicans from forty years ago, but there again, so are most democrats today - and practically all republicans now.
Let's test this thesis of yours. With an actual test.
Who said this?
1) "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
Was it: A) Cliven Bundy, B) John
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and then contrast that against Harry Reid calling in snipers to try to push Cliven Bundy off his ranch.
They aren't trying to push him off his ranch, they're trying to enforce a valid court order that says he can't graze his cattle on BLM managed lands without paying the appropriate fees. Whatever else you think about Federal land management policy (I think it's absurd Uncle Sam owns >80% of Nevada, but that's another discussion) you can't allow someone to so brazenly flaunt lawful judicial orders.
Armed citizens interfering with the enforcement of court orders, in a matter regarding the collection of mon
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Setting the precedent that you can flaunt Federal Court Orders with threats of violence will cause far more bloodshed than enforcing this order in the here and now.
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Okay, lets pretend for a minute that the descendants of white invaders hating on the descendants of native inhabitants isn't 1) racist 2) willfully ignorant of how the U.S. was formed 3) willfully ignorant o
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My question, which nobody in the mainstream asks, since the powers-that-be in each party are apparently in favor of some sort of amnesty provision: What do you tell the hundreds of thousands in line who are going through the process legally? Tough luck, you should have sneaked across the border/overstayed your visa and waited a few years?
I know people who have immigrated to the United States from Canada, the EU, Georgia, and Australia. It took most of them more than ten years to become naturalized citize
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How about....so what, we don't believe in crab mentality. [wikipedia.org]
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>hey aren't trying to push him off his ranch, they're trying to enforce a valid court order that says he can't graze his cattle on BLM managed lands without paying the appropriate fees.
Fine, push him off "the grazing lands his family has been using since the 1800s", since he doesn't own it.
But that's not my point. Look at the attitudes expressed in those sentences, and then try to imagine Harry Reid saying them. With the exception of the 4th statement (which was said by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the advent o
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Harry Reid is an asshole. That's hardly news to me. What does it have to do with the price of tea in China though?
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4) "The people of the United States should be forbidden to have in their possession any firearms, or any other type of weapon. The possession of weapons can make it difficult to collect taxes and dues and supports rebellion."
Was it: A) FDR, B) Al Gore, C) Truman, or D) Harry Reid?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the closest one I could find for #4
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When modern democrats are far, far to the right of Ronald Reagan, that's some pretty pathetic willful ignorance of history, with a sideshow of irrelevant quotes that have nothing to do with policy.
Reagan increased taxes to reduce the deficit while Obama continued Bush's budget busting tax cuts.
Reagan signed a treaty requiring the prosecution of those who commit torture, Obama grants them immunity.
Reagan pulled out of Leban
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>Reagan increased taxes to reduce the deficit while Obama continued Bush's budget busting tax cuts.
Only someone with no understanding of history or current events would be so ignorant to make a statement like that.
Do you know what actually happened? Reagan negotiated with the Democrats to allow a tax increase in exchange for spending cuts. That never happened. Fast forward to the Fiscal Cliff debates, and the Democrats tried the exact same fucking tactic again, with the media floating the proposal to the
No...neocons oppose Obama always (Score:2)
No. Obama is not a Neo-con...neo-cons criticize and oppose Obama at every point.
Also, other ways Obama is not a neo-con:
Obama is not anti-abortion
Obama is not in favor of teaching creationism in schools
Obama does not cut social services
Obama does not deny climate change & pollution
Obama does not shut down the government for no reason
Obama does not take away civil rights
Obama is virtually diametrically opposed to Neo-cons on every issue you can name
Of course he's a neocon. (Score:2)
The only Cheneysque thing Obama hasn't continued and expanded is the torture program. Everything else, Obama has done bigger and better than his predecessor - more spying, more countries bombed, more executive privilege, more FOIA requests denied, more prosecutions of whisteblowers than all previous presidents combined times two.....
That's part of the problem: you seem to have confused "neocon" with "Christian Right". The two are not rem
"neocon" is w/e makes you seem right (Score:2)
you're being dishonest in this discussion
you're using a term "neocon" inconsistently and it's obvious by context that it was intentional
you = GOP troll
No. Neocon = American Imperialist (Score:2)
You don't know WTF you're talking about. Neocons are all about extending the American Empire, not hating gays or banning abortions. This is remedial modern politics, here.
Yes, because sooooooooooooo many Republicans are angry with Obama's drone strikes, illegal invasions and support for coups against democratically elected governments for a lack of pro-west capitalism.
you = butthurt Obamabot reciting a script
neo-cons oppose Obama's policies (Score:2)
neo-cons are some of Obama's harshest, most intractable critics you fsking troll!
they *hate* his policies, foreign and domestic...this is the last post I will elucidate for you
and the religious right & tea party are their subordinates, ideologically and by policy...they are led around and do exactly what they are told
none of this changes the fact that Neo-cons oppose Obama nor does it "prove" you right somehow
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Chile, where we succeeded, is Latin America's top economy — now and for the last twenty years or more. Cuba, where we failed, is a shithole. As is Venezuela, where we decided not to bother...
This is true, unfortunately. And most of the idiots are wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt.
parent is not "flamebait" (Score:2)
slashdot is wrong to downmod any post as "flamebait" that identifies a particular political party
it's "Flamebait" if it is not connected to logic or evidence and blatantly meant to incite vitiriol
it's a "Troll" if it uses "in the know" language to mimic what an on-topic post might superficially look like, but in the end it lacks the same logical, supported choherent point that "Flamebait" lacks
parents post was neither! they mention specific, checkable points as comparison
this kind of moderation is ruining s
So... (Score:3)
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No... everything in use over there is already available over here. Afghanistan is "Production" not "QA"
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That's not a fix, as the grandparent was also correct.
Just because the US govt. has no apparent morals, don't presume that other governments do. Some of them may.
Sounds like it could work here too.. (Score:3)
From the TFA...
"Locate and identify every resident (visit and record every house and business). At a minimum, fully biometrically enroll all military-age males as follows: Full sets of fingerprints, Full face photo, Iris scans, Names and all variants of names
Use badging to identify local leaders, and key personnel.
Track persons of interest; unusual travel patterns may indicate unusual activities."
"All biometric data collected (is) sent back to the DOD’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) located in West Virginia, where it is stored and also shared with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI. Partnerships with other nations also allow the DOD to run data against biometrics collected by foreign governments and law enforcement."
one saving grace (Score:3)
getting the info off the devices and back to the DOD does not always happen. i know of numerous times an entire missions worth of data was never uploaded to a computer and/or never sent any further up the chain. it may be collected, but it's not all getting where they want it.
and from what I saw in two tours, the data that does make it up never amounts to anything actionable. a waste of money and resources right now.
i think you're right. it is a good place to beta test and will be much more useful here a
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This is a good start. We need to track everyone. It's best to start with the brown people. Eventually we can track everyone since anyone could be a potential "terrorist". I'm glad to see this already in production to help us control the peoples of the world. /sarcasm for those who are politically or humor impaired)
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1984+4+4+4+4+4+4+4+4,,,, (Score:2)
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>> Many third world countries will soon be more free than the USSA - time to emigrate.
"Freer" until you're killed by an executive-ordered, zero-oversight drone strike.
Oh wait, that can happen here too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... [huffingtonpost.com]
http://www.motherjones.com/moj... [motherjones.com]
Makes superstition look good (Score:4, Interesting)
Pretty soon all criminals, insurgents, terrorists and revolutionaries will find themselves practicing the same sort of precautions people used to use to protect themselves against ``witchcraft'':
- not allowing any hair (or skin cells) to be taken by another
- not allowing any instance of bleeding to stain anywhere someone else might have access to it
- not allowing their picture to be taken, lest it steal their soul
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The reason that isn't possible (and it is basically impossible that there were intelligent dinosaurs for a brief time) is the lack of toilets in the fossil record.
Sanitation is necessary for large populations. Function drives fashion. If there was an advanced civilization, they would have had toilets. Toilets would be made of ceramics (at least some) and there would have to be a large number of them.
Some toilets would have survived from any previous advanced civilization.
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Some toilets would have survived from any previous advanced civilization.
Because I love a good argument, what if they grew genetically modified plant toilets, which are now extinct because they were engineered not to be invasive, and died out without cultivation? Toilets are so primitive.
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There would have been a period between developing cities and requiring toilets and developing genetic engineering. Some toilets would have survived.
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There would have been a period between developing cities and requiring toilets and developing genetic engineering. Some toilets would have survived.
Maybe they were crapping in compostable bags and burying them under plants. We have that technology today, we can use it to save water.
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Won't scale. Disease vector.
Also doesn't eliminate need for old school chamber pots.
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Won't scale. Disease vector.
You're presuming that they will have had high population density, but there's no reason to assume that. It's efficient, but it's not necessarily desirable.
Also doesn't eliminate need for old school chamber pots.
They were made out of valuable metals and they were ruthlessly tracked down and recycled.
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Ceramic is much cheaper and readily available then metal of any kind.
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Ceramic is much cheaper and readily available then metal of any kind.
Sure, but metal was more readily available then, so they used it instead. Alternately, they brought their biodegradable toilets with them, on their spaceships.
I've read enough sci-fi to do this all day, this isn't even a warmup :)
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If your argument requires the laws of physics to change ('metal was more readily available then') it probably isn't a very good one.
Metal is cheap today. I've only rarely seen metal urinals and never seen a metal crapper.
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Metal is cheap today. I've only rarely seen metal urinals and never seen a metal crapper.
Forming the metal into the shape of a toilet is expensive, with current technology. Stainless steel toilets are used anyway, in parks and on ships.
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Which brings me back to my main point. Function and economics would make many toilets out of ceramics. Which we would find in the fossil record or among the ruins. Study of ancient ceramics is a well advanced field of archeology.
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Well, that's why the only "theory" which would actually work with such an idea is the alien visitors theory. A three hour tour. But then you have to explain where they came from, which is why the razor shaves that one right off, along with the whole idea. Still, it's a fun thought experiment.
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Do you honestly believe there are _no_ ceramic toilets in India?
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They had them before we got there. Granting they might not have had running water, the rich have had chamber pots for centuries.
Google called (Score:2)
They want their business model back.
Yeah, it's tough when we're bad racists. (Score:3)
When you become a better racist, you can identify smaller factions of people.
Oh, I might be wrong, it just might be a religious thing.
Ahh, we're over there for the oil.
Wait, WTF are we doing over there?
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I thought it was because they all looked the same and as George Carlin said we have a policy on bombing brown people.
Interesting Implication of Obvious Implication (Score:5, Interesting)
This item, and the subsequent discussion posts, do not state the obvious implication that this kind of tracking is expected to creep into the US.
The really interesting part to me, is that nobody found it necessary to say so. It is automatically assumed that anyone reading will immediately come to the same conclusion, and therefore it need not be stated.
That we have come to this, is scary (notwithstanding my tag).
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Sad state of the world aside you're missing an important detail... this is *already over here. Do you have a drivers license? You're in a DB. Do you have a Passport? You're in a DB. Have you ever served in any branch of the armed forces? You're in a DB. Have you ever applied for clearance? You're in a DB. Have you ever been arrested for *anything? You're in a DB. As a child did you ever take a field trip to a local police station and get fingerprinted/etc? They kept all that... If you didn't answe
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Reasonable? Depends. Who benefits, who pays. It's probably more effective. And people don't notice how they've been targeted as hostages, so they may not object. And it lets you plan to kill not only the target, but all his friends and relatives too, so you don't plan on making enemies.
OTOH, if they worried about those factors, they wouldn't engage in the indiscriminate drone attacks. So they probably don't care about how many people they make hate them, at least judging by their actions.
Perhaps the b