NATO’s Newest Bombing Tool: Twitter

[Ed Jewett]

NATO's Newest Bombing Tool: Twitter

By Spencer Ackerman
June 10, 2011



In the early days of the Libya war, U.S. commanders were adamant that they didn't communicate with the Libyan rebels about what targets to bomb. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/...ess-we-do/ As it turns out, they don't need to. They've got Twitter.

NATO officials conducting air strikes on forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi don't have soldiers on the ground to spot for the warplanes and armed drones overhead. (Well, at least not officially.) But they do have a barrage of tweets about Gadhafi's troop movements in beleaguered cities like Benghazi and Tripoli, all of which come in handy when picking out targets.

"We get information from open sources on the Internet, we get Twitter," British Wing Commander Mike Bracken told AFP. Another NATO official attested, "Twitter is a great source." http://www.france24.com/en/20110610-twee...air-raids#

None of which is to say that an errant tweet is enough to launch a Hellfire missile. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/...ady-begun/ NATO flies AWACS surveillance planes over Libya, as well as other spy aircraft and satellites, to aid with targeting. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/...ibya-24-7/ NATO officials assure that they don't just set targeting coordinates based on what someone says over Twitter just that Twitter has value as a source of tactical intelligence.

Not hard to see why. Libyan Twitterati send off tweets about Gadhafi's latest depravities at a frenetic pace. Tweets containing links to uploaded video, like this one which, fair warning, is graphic clearly show the roads that Gadhafi's troops use to travel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYruusmhe...ture=share

The unavoidable time delay between filming, uploading, tweeting, receiving, confirming and then acting on the information shows that Twitter can't be an actual targeting mechanism, even if we assume that tweets about troop movements are 100 percent accurate. But as real-time mass communications go, this is pretty close. How long before Gadhafi's forces take to Twitter to start giving out tactical misinformation?

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/...l-twitter/

[Peter Lemkin]

Thats a pretty stupid way to do this....as the Qadaffi troops can also play this game - and probably have. Then there is the question of whether NATO should be bombing anyone.....

[Jan Klimkowski]

"We get information from open sources on the Internet, we get Twitter," British Wing Commander Mike Bracken told AFP. Another NATO official attested, "Twitter is a great source."

FFS.

OK - here's my version of NATO High Command's next press release:

"NATO is the most highly professional military force in the world, with a mission to protect civilians. Our attacks are all conducted with surgical precision, based on the very best intelligence, to ensure that we strike at the Bad Guys and avoid collateral damage.

"Whether you're in Tripoli or London, Caracas or Chicago, you can rest assured that the world's finest miltary is using the world's most advanced intelligence to conduct surgical strikes on anyone who crosses the military-multinational-intelligence complex.

"Gaddafi - watch out! Chavez - get ducking! Ahmadinejad - go find a cave!

"Non-violent protestors - you're incubating terrorism! Workers striking against austerity cuts - you're national security threats!

"We've got Facebook! We've got Twitter! We've got your mobile phone triangulated! And we've got you in our sights!"

[Ed Jewett]

The Sorman Massacre

For once, Thierry Meyssan is not offering us a clinical analysis of geo-political developments. He is reporting on facts that he witnessed firsthand: the story of his friend, Engineer Khaled K. Al-Hamedi. A story of horror and blood where NATO embodies the comeback of barbarism.

By Thierry Meyssan

July 03, 2011 "Voltairenet" --- It was a family celebration, the Libyan way. Everyone had gathered to celebrate the third birthday of little Al-Khweldy. The grand-parents, the brothers and sisters and cousins were crowding inside the family house located in Sorman, 70 Kms West of the capital: a big garden where small houses had been built for the various members of the family, plain, one-floor houses.

No big luxury, just the simplicity of desert people. A quiet and harmonious atmosphere. The grand-father, Marshall Al-Khweldy Al-Hamedi, used to raise birds here. - He is a hero of the Revolution who took part in the overthrow of the monarchy and in his country's liberation from colonial exploitation. All are very proud of him. - The son, Khaled Al-Hamedi, President of IOPCR, one of the most important Arab humaitarian associations, used to raise does. About thirty children were running around among the animals.

They were also preparing the wedding of his brother Mohammed, gone to the front lines to fight against NATO-trained foreign mercenaries. The ceremony was to take place here in a few days' time. His fiancee was already beaming.

Nobody noticed that, among the guests, a spy had sneaked in. He was pretending to twitter his friends. In reality, he had just marked the targets and was relaying them through the social network at NATO Headquarters.

The next day, during the night of 19 to 20 June 2011, at around 2.30 am, Khaled went back home after having visited and assisted compatriots who had fled the Alliance's bombings. He was close enough to his house to hear the hissing of missiles and their explosions.

NATO fired eight of them, of 900 kilos each. The spy had placed markers in each house, including the children's bedrooms. The missiles were dropped a few seconds apart. The grand-parents had time to get out of their house before it was destroyed. It was already too late to rescue the children and grand-children. When the last missile hit their house, the Marshall had the instinctive reaction to shield his wife with his body. They had just stepped out of the door when they were flung fifteen meters away by an explosion. But they survived.

When Khaled arrived, there was only devastation. His wife, whom he loved so much, and the child she was bearing were gone. His children, for whom he would have given anything, were crushed by the explosions and collapsing ceilings.

The houses were left in ruins. Twelve mutilated bodies were lying under the rubble. The does, hit by fragments, were agonising in their pen.

The neighbours who rushed to their rescue silently searched through the debris for any sign of life. Unfortunately, there was no hope. The children didn't stand a chance of escaping the missiles. The corpse of a beheaded child is extracted. The grand-father is reciting verses of the Coran. His voice is firm, he does not cry. His pain is too strong.

[COLOR="#8b0000"]Meanwhile, in Brussels, NATO spokespersons declared to have bombed the headquarters of pro-Ghaddafi militia in order to protect the civilian population from the tyrant who is repressing it.
[/COLOR]
It is not known how the whole thing was planned by the targets committee, nor how the chiefs of NATO's general staff followed the unfolding of the operation. [COLOR="purple"]What is clear is that the Atlantic Alliance, with its spruced-up generals and right-thinking diplomats, has decided to murder the chidren of Libyan leaders to break their psychological resistance.

Since the XIIIth century, European theologists and jurists have prohibited the assassination of families. Only the mafia has broken this absolute taboo. The mafia and now NATO.[/COLOR]

On 1st July, when 1.7 million people were demonstrating in Tripoli to defend their country against foreign aggression, Khaled went to the front to bring relief to refugees and the injured. Snipers were waiting for him. They tried to kill him. He was seriously injured; however, according to the doctors, his life is no longer in danger.

NATO's dirty work is not yet finished.


http://www.voltairenet.org/The-Sorman-massacre

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info...e28474.htm

[Keith Millea]

Webster Tarpley live from Libya.A good listen......

Guns and Butter
"Report From Tripoli" with Webster Griffin Tarpley

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/71085

[Jan Klimkowski]

[Nobody noticed that, among the guests, a spy had sneaked in. He was pretending to twitter his friends. In reality, he had just marked the targets and was relaying them through the social network at NATO Headquarters.

(snip)

NATO fired eight of them, of 900 kilos each. The spy had placed markers in each house, including the children's bedrooms. The missiles were dropped a few seconds apart. The grand-parents had time to get out of their house before it was destroyed. It was already too late to rescue the children and grand-children. When the last missile hit their house, the Marshall had the instinctive reaction to shield his wife with his body. They had just stepped out of the door when they were flung fifteen meters away by an explosion. But they survived.

When Khaled arrived, there was only devastation. His wife, whom he loved so much, and the child she was bearing were gone. His children, for whom he would have given anything, were crushed by the explosions and collapsing ceilings.

The houses were left in ruins. Twelve mutilated bodies were lying under the rubble. The does, hit by fragments, were agonising in their pen.

The neighbours who rushed to their rescue silently searched through the debris for any sign of life. Unfortunately, there was no hope. The children didn't stand a chance of escaping the missiles. The corpse of a beheaded child is extracted. The grand-father is reciting verses of the Coran. His voice is firm, he does not cry. His pain is too strong.

[COLOR="#8b0000"]Meanwhile, in Brussels, NATO spokespersons declared to have bombed the headquarters of pro-Ghaddafi militia in order to protect the civilian population from the tyrant who is repressing it.
[/COLOR]

Ed - I'm going to cross post the entire article in the Libya thread as it's such an important one.

With regards to the use of Twitter to target this slaughter of men, women and children, it shows yet again that the discoveries of science can be used for Good and for Evil.

[Ed Jewett]

Indeed...