:)
Posted on 06/10/2005 8:36:48 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
The U.S. Army announced this week it wants a new generation of rugged, wireless speakers for its psychological warfare units.
An earlier version of the loudspeakers on the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command’s wish list would likely be familiar to former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. In 1989, the U.S. Army blasted hard rock outside the Vatican embassy in Panama City where Mr. Noriega had taken refuge after 24,000 U.S. troops dropped in to arrest him five days before Christmas.
In the end, it wasn’t psychological warfare, but old-fashioned street protests from Panamanians that led Mr. Noriega to surrender to U.S. authorities. Still, so-called psyops units of the U.S. military haven’t stopped using loudspeakers to unhinge foes. Last year, U.S. troops cranked AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells at full volume toward a nest of Sunni snipers in Fallujah.
In a notice to potential vendors released on Wednesday, Special Ops said it is looking for a second generation of loud speakers to tote into battle. The old ones, designed in the 1990s, are cumbersome and come with a tangle of wires that can get in the way when you are trying to rattle mujahadeen with Eminem. The old speakers fit on the undersides of blackhawk helicopters. The new ones will be designed to fit on blackhawks as well as other rotary wing aircraft, new unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground robots.
Special Ops is also interested in disposable speakers that can be remotely operated for a few hours after dropping from a plane. The U.S. Army is not saying how much it will pay, or how many it wants, but audio companies that think they have what it takes to design a combat-ready, portable, 15-pound, remote-controlled speaker system with a touch-screen control panel have until July 25 to send a pitch.
The loudspeakers are also employed to heckle the enemy. During the same battle in Fallujah where U.S. soldiers played AC/DC, loudspeakers blasted insults in Arabic. One memorable taunt reported by The Associated Press: “May all the ambulances in Fallujah have enough fuel to pick up the bodies of the mujahadeen.”
The U.S. Army is quick to point out that loudspeakers can also be used to convey critical information to civilian populations caught in the crossfire. Tell that to Mr. Noriega.
I wonder what Eminem songs they play. :)
I like that.
BTW if you really want to torture them run nothing but Sousa and welk w4/7.
Awesome post!
LMFAO!
:)
I know a song they can play over those speakers. "America, F*ck Yeah!..."
LOL.
I've got an appropriate one from Donny + Marie:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000000D5Z001005/0/002-9579015-5338461
I would play anything by Yoko Ono.
"I know a song they can play over those speakers. "America, F*ck Yeah!...""
And it's now out on DVD! I got one and watched it the other night, and laughed even harder than I did when I saw it in the theater. Yes, this would be great on those new speakers.
"LRAD can issue a verbal challenge with instructions in excess of 500 meters and has the capability of following up with a warning tone to influence behavior or determine intent. LRADs are currently deployed with the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy in Operation Iraqi Freedom in and around Fallujah, Mosul, and the port of Basra."
Won't link properly. I was thinking 'Make the World Go Away'!
Or, that song by Slim Whitman, from Mars Attacks.
Yoko ? Now THATS is tourture..cANT DO IT BUDDY
They could get real creative..Play animal sounds , old TV show themes,Christman songs , whatever..Drive them nuts trying to figure out what the HELL is going on..Rap is probably big there too , who knows. They may like it..I'd go for the strange and different..
Well, we are at war. How about Algore doing the Macarena?
Hah! Made 'em so crazy they'd jump out from cover and charge, from what I hear.
You just gotta love this stuff. Really. :-)
How about that clip of the drunken slob Kennedy singing
Rosie O Grady ..EEEKK what a though ..I was serious about the animal sounds ..They have unbelievable sound CDs out..Imagine in the dead of night these guys hearing a heard of rhinos at 10,000 watts coming from all directions.It would have to start confusion and panic.i swear I want to suggest that to the military
No, dude... we gotta have some limits... I mean... just damn.
I mean... pork fat, shredded Koran, menstrual fluids... I can see the usefulness there. But I gotta draw the line at Yoko. I mean, we're not barbarians.
Didn't the Feds try similar tactics against David Koresh at Waco? I seem to remember that they'd somehow heard that he HATED Tibetan monastic chanting, so they blasted it at the compound 24/7 during the standoff...
"And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt
Well, I've just found me a brand new box of matches "
Yoko Ono!?!
You might as well stick panties on the head of everyone in the village.
At least THAT would be more humane than using Yoko Ono as a weapon of torture.
It sure is, right in article 13.
ARTICLE 13
Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.
The use of Yoko Ono's music for any means would be a severe violation of this convention.
Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.
Alternate 2-hour tapes/whatever of this stuff w/2-hour tapes/whatever of Eminem/NWA/50cent/etcandwhocares, and SOMEbody will crack, straightaway.
Play some Ozzy and let them shake in their sandles.
"Tomorrow," from the musical Annie.
I beg to differ. "Disco Duck" had some redeeming qualities.
I'd play endless cds of laugh tracks..They wouldn't know what the hell was goin gon ..Eventually they would come out of their hole to see and....BANG !
However, if included on an extended-play list, I daresay it would become torturous RIGHT quickly.
Wouldn't you agree? (g!)
I think the psy-ops groups are making a major mistake. Rather than playing heavy metal and rap, they should play Barry Manilow.
There was a link to Ozzy Osborn singing "Take me out to the ballgame" here a while back. It'd be like the nuclear option, but maybe not as bad as Yoko!
Bill and Hillary singing I GOT YOU BABE!
I love that movie...
Over and over and over again.
(Please don't do any of this psyops stuff in my area!)
Motorhead at 120dB - nothing could stand up to that!
That would be effective. But, how about Laurence Welk 24/7?
Matt Stone: "I read this article recently that when the Americans were storming Fallujah that some of the psyche-operations, where they go through and they play music to freak everybody out on big speakers in tanks, they actually played America: F--k yeah. And that completed my year - the joke was complete."
http://www.indielondon.co.uk/film/team_america_stoneQ&A.html
"I wonder what Eminem songs they play. :)"
I'm the real Zarquawi"
Anything from Dickie Goodman.
"Mr. Jaws. Mr Jaws."
Got to listen to "Rock the Casbah" RIGHT NOW!!! Great post!
I recall that idea from the movie Kellys Heroes when Oddball (Donald Sutherland) was describing how they had upgraded the Sherman tanks and they had added speakers to play music as they went into battle. Coppola copied it in Apocalypse Now with the speakers added to Hueys as they played the Ride of the Valkyries going into battle.
I can't recall the sex scene in the movie version between the puppets, having certain "depravities"...if you know what I mean.
Was the DVD expanded to include these displays?
From what I hear on my local streets, seems like the military should be able to get exactly what they want from any car audio store.........
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