“The laser dazzlers fall into the same category as Tasers, as they are untested and could harm innocent people.”
Source: Anthony Salloum, Programme Director of the Rideau Institute quoted in the Ottawa Citizen December 23, 20007
But what are “laser dazzlers”? In a briefing paper published by the Rideau Institute the authors suggested that:Canada is planning to purchase “laser dazzlers” for deployment in Afghanistan. ‘Military.com’ defines these dazzlers as:
“devices capable of creating, bright pulses of coherent light, meant to render someone sightless, temporarily“.
Source: ‘Laser Weapons’ and Canada’s International Legal Obligations November 19, 2007
Canada will not be the first to purchase these inhumane weapons, it is reported that American forces are already using them:
Last year, the Pentagon acknowledged its troops in Iraq were using dazzler devices on their rifles. A Pentagon official said the systems were designed to cut down on the number of shooting of Iraqis at checkpoints. Source Ottawa Citizen December 23, 2007
Unfortunately the available information on whether or not the Harper government has already purchased laser dazzlers is unclear. On one-hand we are told:
The Harper government has bought new weapons known as laser dazzlers to deploy in Afghanistan. These are weapons that may inadvertently blind innocent civilians – permanently!
Source: ceasefire.ca
On the other-hand, a spokesman for The Department of National Defence said:
The Department …always considers ways to protect our Forces and reduce the potential of causing unintended harm to civilians,” spokesman Maj. Norbert Cyr stated last week. He noted while the military is aware of such technology it does not currently use the systems. Source: David Pugliese , CanWest News Service, Published: Monday, November 19, 2007
One has to wonder how many more servicemen and women will return home from Afghanistan and Iraq to Canada with neurological diseases through handling these weapons.
One might also consider how much greater will be the name of Canada as a callous invading puppet of the Bush government while, at the same time the government is wrecking its once proud image as an international peacemaker by its additional aggressive strategy of likely causing irreparable damage to the sight of civilians with untested weapons.
Tag: Afghanistan, blind, Blindness, innocent civilians, laser dazzlers, LASERS, neurological disease, Ottawa Citizen, Politics, The Defence Department, The Geneva Convention, The Rideau Institute, think-tank, World
First published in NowPublic by peter.reardon | January 16, 2008
©2008.Peter Reardon, Victoria, Canada.
