Damn good idea. What better way to find a sniper's position than to have him zip one right through the cardboard head of a marine? Sure beats losing a live one!
Should have used some of those human shields that were over protecting Saddam's interests before the shooting started.
Almost everything mentioned in this article is a non-issue. Imagine if the same reporter was writing a story on the D-Day invasion. Almost everything written would also apply to the buildup and we know how big of a failure that was. /sarcasm
How on earth does this thread qualify as passing muster on "Loose Lips Sink Ships"???
Sounds like an excellent follow-up to all the 'captured doll' threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;s=doll
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Yesterday, one of the news programs showed police in one city (US) were using cut-outs of cops, for example, holding radar guns. The intent was that speeders would slow down long before they recognized that the 'radar gun guy' was cardboard.
Hey, if it works.....
Best use for a DUmmie I ever heard... oh wait, different kind of dummy... still, the ossibilities are intruiging...
Caption:
Najaf - A U.S. soldier uses a dummy to draw an insurgent sniper into view. (Photo by Jim MacMillan, August 20, 2004.
Leni
Aside from the headline being biased, it's also completely ignorant. Militaries have used deception tactically and strategically for as long as we've made war on each other. I remember reading about an ancient Chinese general who had more and more troops hide during the day, and light fewer and fewer fires each night. The enemy assumed that his troops were deserting, and that miscalculation cost them dearly.
Using cardboard dummies is a much more garden variety sort of deception, but that's the kind of war we're in. The insurgents stuff 155mm artillery shells inside dead animals alongside the road. We've all got our tricks of the trade, and know to expect the unexpected.
In this computer age, there is no excuse for having our best warriors fooled by old maps.
Btw, the cut-out tactic reminds me of Gideon and his 300 warriors, as described in the book of Judges in the Bible. Gideon and his men fooled the enemy into fleeing, by using a simple contraption to create the impression that there were many more Gideon's men.
The link for this alleged 'story' is a blog called 'Raging Bull". What gives???