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Banned
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Stompy
I can't believe no one's posted this.
It's pretty hilarious because they're being serious about it. I thought it was a joke: http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/09/ter....ap/index.html
Hahaha, seriously now... a terrorist is gonna fire a laser into a cockpit HOW exactly? Sittin over yonder on a hill trying to snipe a laser into something thousands of feet away? Oh gee, not suspicious at all 
They might as well just come out with a report saying, "Evidence of black magic found on terrorist site, terrorists may try to summon satan to attack pilots"
Trust me, planes are far from their todo list at this point.. it's great how we pour all this money and focus all of our attention onto PLANES while we're leaving pretty much everything else wiiiiiide open.
The conservative media is getting a bit ridiculous with the fear mongering these days. |
I'm still not sure this isn't a troll, but I'll go ahead and post a couple of links relating an incident in 1997. I assume that will take out the usual "Neocon" rants.
Laser 1
Quote:
Russian ship's laser caused eye injury, Navy officer says
"WASHINGTON - A U.S. naval-intelligence officer says he may be losing sight in his right eye because of a laser beam that hit him as he flew over a Russian cargo ship in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Lt. Jack Daly told a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday that he and the pilot of a Canadian surveillance helicopter suffered "irreparable eye damage."
Daly said he was photographing the Russian ship, which he suspected of spying on U.S. submarines, when the episode occurred.
The Pentagon investigated Daly's claims and concluded from medical examinations that the injuries to his eye were consistent with retinal damage from a low-power laser. But it said there was "no evidence" to prove it was a laser. No laser was found on the ship, and the Russian captain denied having any such equipment.
Daly said he remains convinced that the Russian vessel, the Kapitan Man, directed a laser beam at their helicopter on April 4, 1997, in the strait.
He also told lawmakers he is not surprised that a U.S. Coast Guard and naval-intelligence team could not find any laser when it boarded the ship three days later in Tacoma. He said the Russian captain was given 24 hours warning of the search.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the Armed Services procurement subcommittee, accused the Clinton administration of bureaucratic bungling in allowing the Russian captain to have so much advance notice.
Hunter called for banning all Russian ships from Puget Sound and other waters close to submarine bases.
Daly, wearing glasses, testified that he had perfect vision before the incident. Now, he has 24-hour pain in his right eye, cannot drive at night and cannot go to the movies or night ball games in stadiums with bright lights.
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Laser 2
Quote:
Trial begins in Russian-laser case
Attorneys for U.S. Navy officer say 1997 attack was intentional
Posted: October 10, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jon Dougherty
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
Attorneys for a decorated U.S. Navy intelligence officer have told a federal court in Seattle that the crew of a Russian vessel believed on a spying mission intentionally fired a laser at a Canadian air force helicopter sent to photograph the ship, permanently injuring the officer and the pilot.
Larry Klayman, president and chief general counsel for the nonprofit legal group Judicial Watch, said Cmdr. Jack Daly, then a lieutenant, was injured when the crew of the Kapitan Man allegedly fired a laser at him as the ship laid off Puget Sound near Washington state five years ago.
Daly is suing the Far Eastern Shipping Company, known by the acronym FESCO, in U.S. district court. FESCO is a Russian company headquartered in Vladivostok and owned in part by the Russian government. Two other defendants – FESCO Agencies N.A. Inc. and FESCO Intermodal Inc. – are companies wholly owned by FESCO. The company is represented by attorney Marc Warner.
The April 4, 1997, incident occurred when Daly was a passenger in a Canadian military CH-124 "Sea King" helicopter piloted by Canadian Capt. Patrick Barnes.
Around noon, Klayman said, the Russian vessel was in U.S. territorial waters, five nautical miles north of Port Angeles, Wash., and was proceeding east in the inbound lane of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Port of Tacoma.
"Not coincidentally, the USS Ohio, a U.S. nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, had left the Bangor, Wash., submarine base and was heading out to sea through the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the same vicinity as the Kapitan Man," Klayman told the jury of seven women and three men on Monday.
The Russian ship passed within 1,000 yards of the surfaced submarine, he said.
The Kapitan Man had a history of languishing in the narrow straits, usually when nuclear subs were traversing the area. The ship's actions raised suspicions and prompted the Navy to investigate. Daly's mission was to photograph the vessel for later inspection by intelligence teams.
Daly and Barnes made several passes at the ship. Within hours after the helicopter returned to its base near Victoria, British Columbia, both men exhibited signs that their eyes had been exposed to a laser. The next morning, both awoke with blood in the whites of their eyes.
The officers eventually were examined by Dr. David Scales, a now-retired Air Force ophthalmologist and retinologist, at the U.S. Army Medical Research Detachment, or USMRD, in San Antonio, Texas, the Pentagon's center of expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of laser injuries.
Scales is considered an expert in the field and one of only a few doctors in the world who have studied the effect of weapons-grade laser injuries. He found lesions in the right eye of Daly but none in Barnes', though he believes the beam of the laser may have been amplified as it entered the lens of Daly's camera.
While manuvering the helicopter, Barnes also looked directly at the ship, but because he was flying – and not taking photographs – the sun visor on his helmet was down, which may have blunted the laser beam. His injury was such that he said yesterday during testimony the Canadian government gave him a 15 percent increase in his pension.
Tests showed the men were most likely hit with a Neodymium YAG laser, according to a USMRD analysis.
In late 1998, Daly followed up with Dr. Howard Cohen, an ophthalmologist specializing in laser eye injuries. Cohen, who had previously helped found the USMRD's laser trauma center in the early 1990s in San Francisco, found six to seven threshold lesions on the retina of Daly's right eye and another two threshold lesions on the retina of his left eye. These lesions are permanent, Cohen believes, and are characteristic of laser scars.
Shortly after the incident, Coast Guard teams were given two hours to search the vessel but did not locate a laser. Teams were not given full access to the ship, however, and the Clinton administration had warned the Russian government in advance the ship would be searched.
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And here's a little medical literature:
Laser 3
It's from the United States Naval Flight Surgeon Handbook: 2nd Edition 1998
I'm having a very hard time seeing the humor in eye damage of others. I've seen temporary bannings for less. |