[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: “Tradewinds”: A joint military-police U.S. Marines training program in non-lethal weapons held in Antigua – including tasers – “to stun, subdue or capture an enemy combatant or criminal without any loss or life or permanent injury”. Non-lethal weapons training is particularly useful to members of smaller countries, such as those in the […]
“Electric-shock tasers are useful only at short range against small numbers of individuals, are not scalable, and can cause pain.” The taser doiesn’t pass the “rock-throwing distance”— about 100 metres, the range a weapon must have to afford the user protection against rock-throwers.
Associated Press, by Qassim Abdul-Zahra … Note the key paragraph below: “American commanders are currently training Iraqi detention teams on inmate control techniques, such as handling riots and using non-lethal weapons such as Tasers. But conditions in Iraqi prisons have been the subject of repeated condemnations from right groups, such as Amnesty International.” (in bold […]
GlobalShock has selected two sections for this posting: the Preface (an overview of this “study of the requirements for and desired characteristics of nonlethal capabilities in the current and foreseeable security environments”) commissioned by the US Department of Defense, and the Section dealing specifically with tasers in military environments (pages 85-86)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2682702/British-soldiers-filmed-using-illegal-taser-torture-device.html Two British soldiers, filmed apparently stunning each other with an illegal electric-shock torture device, are facing disciplinary action. By Chris Irvine Last Updated: 5:21PM BST 04 Sep 2008 The two men, claiming to be from the Royal Engineers, appeared to have filmed themselves with the electric-shock device while off-duty at a military base in […]
Excerpts from a Department of defense interview: No official denial that “four individuals received administration punishments for excessive use of force. In particular I’m advised that it was the unauthorized use of Taser.”
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Mainly for potential investors: $1.8 million Military Contract Represents the Single Largest Order in Company History. TASER president, Tom Smith says: “It is exciting to see the United States military place an order of this size after seeing the weapon’s success over the last year in theaters such as Afghanistan and Iraq. […]
44 M26s have been one of the more revolutionary weapons for the Military Police Corps in Iraq, guarding enemy prisoners of war. he fielding of the TASER M26 has introduced an advanced capability to military police in combat operations. The TASER M26 received its best reception in enemy prisoner of war camps where prisoner and military police injuries were greatly reduced by its presence.
Following 2003 $240,000 military sale, Taser International reports: “The Army has deployed 312 TASER International’s Advanced TASER M26 conducted-energy weapons in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom”, offering soldiers “another option against others in an urban environment, for force protection, law enforcement and confinement operation”.
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : This makes the occupation of Iraq sound humanitarian! In early 2003, 110 US soldiers are trainined in the use of tasers and other weapons designed to hurt, not to kill: “break the cycle of violence,” to quell resistance, control crowds and subdue prisoners of war without causing unwanted Iraqi civilian casualties. […]
The U.S. military has given hundreds of its troops electricity-spewing taser guns, rubber bullets, and other so-called “non-lethal” weapons to help keep order in Iraq. One of the reasons why, according to a report prepared for the Army: Saddam’s thugs used such tactics, too. “The previous regime used batons to beat the populace, and electrical […]
Tasers and related weapons are designed to give troops new tools to quell resistance, control crowds and subdue Iraqi prisoners of war. But while some soldiers in Iraq like the devices, others in the military think they are too mild to be used in the often-bloody Iraqi danger zone. Non-military critics contend the weapons are unnecessarily brutal.
Defense Daily, By Ann Roosevelt IN BRIEF: Military police are using Taser International [TASR] M-26 tasers while guarding prisoners in Iraq, Timothy Lamb, assistant commandant at the Military Police School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. said, to potentially stop prisoner escapes or prevent riots. There’s an increasing need for newer, more effective non-lethal weapons to […]