State Department to use lasers to blind Iraqi motorists

I don't really know how to comment on this boondoggle of a story. From ABC News:

The State Department plans to equip its motorcade security details in Iraq with lasers to "dazzle" suspect motorists and helmet cameras to record it all.

U.S. officials also say the State Department plans to double the number of its diplomatic security agents to 90 so that one of its agents can accompany every convoy guarded by Blackwater and other private security contractors.

Security experts say the lasers, emitting a green beam and already in use at some U.S. military checkpoints in Baghdad, overload the optic nerve but, if used from at least 10 feet away, will not cause any permanent eye damage.

Lasers designed to cause permanent blindness have been banned by international law since 1995.

The lasers being sent to Iraq, experts say, are intended only to dazzle or temporarily blind vehicle drivers and alert them to stop.

So, the State Department wants to equip their security guards with these lasers in order to blind Iraqi motorists so they can stop--or crash! The State Department wants to blind Iraqi motorists so they can stop. Who is the madman in the State Department that thought up this insane idea?

Let's continue on with this story:

"I've had them tested on me, and while it is certainly uncomfortable, like a flashbulb going off in front of your face, there is no permanent damage whatsoever," said Tony Diebler, a former State Department security official who now works at Cohort, International, the company providing the lasers and helmet cameras to the State Department.

The lasers, with a pistol grip, are about the size of a three-battery flashlight. They sell for around $9,000 each.

Laser_dazzler The State Department has ordered 26 of the lasers for full field testing in Iraq.

"They are proving great so far, and State wants them like yesterday," Diebler said.

You have got to love the marketing here. Tony Diebler was a former State Department security official, who then went to work for Cohort International--which is building these $9,000 lasers. Diebler goes back to the State Department to sell these lasers, and State is all happy to buy these things--we've got back-scratching going on between Cohert and State. And let's not forget that Diebler said these lasers are perfectly safe--this guy is a frickin' salesman who will say anything to get the government to buy Cohort's laser products. At $9,000 a piece. I just know that the more State and the U.S. military uses these lasers against the Iraqi motorists, the greater the chance that you are going to see a major accident, as a motorist is blinded and unable to control their car.

Then again, what do you expect from a Bush administration that is more than happy to reward their cronies with wasted taxpayer dollars?