New bullet tested on Iraqi by security consultant

[Keithpotkin]

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2426405.php

basically, what happened is this security consultant for some company shot this iraqi in the butt with this special bullet...it killed him...then he came home and touted the success of the bullet to the army times and the bullet manufacturers. pretty crazy.

----
1-shot killer
This 5.56mm round has all the stopping power you need — but you can’t use it. Here’s why:

By John G. Roos
Special to the Times

Ben Thomas and three colleagues were driving north out of Baghdad in an SUV on a clear mid-September morning, headed down a dirt road into a rural village, when gunmen in several surrounding buildings opened fire on them.

In a brief but intense firefight, Thomas hit one of the attackers with a single shot from his M4 carbine at a distance he estimates was 100 to 110 yards.

He hit the man in the buttocks, a wound that typically is not fatal. But this round appeared to kill the assailant instantly.

“It entered his butt and completely destroyed everything in the lower left section of his stomach ... everything was torn apart,” Thomas said.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

much more...very creepy and interesting.

[seventhson]

1. I'm sure they are itching to test it here at the next antiwar protest

War is hell, but this war is all hells ever.

[burrowowl]

2. This is against the Geneva Convention

Dum-dums were banned because they kill without a chance of just being wounded.
My GOD! We stinch on giving troops body armor, we kill civilians, destroy orchards, use illegal munitions, ....
No wonder the U$ is not winning popularity contests worldwide.

[loudnclear]

9. Since when do we care about the Geneva Convention?

Believe me, we are going to reap what we sow. Just think about how weapons are in the hands of criminals in the US now. I be the cops will just love them having these bullets. And you know, if there is a profit to be made, someone is going to sell these to the highest bidder.

[Frangible]

10. That wasn't the Geneva Convention you're thinking of

But the Hague Accords iirc. And the US didn't sign it anyway, but generally restricts the use of expanding and poisoned bullets.

Ironic, isn't it, considering civilians, police officers, and hunters all use hollow points, but the military uses FMJ.

BTW-- the regular 5.56mm FMJ US/NATO round has a *lot* of fragmentation; it's much more lethal than most FMJs.

[Nlighten1]

14. You know what they call people like this?

Illegal combatants.

[name not needed]

3. theyre called blended metal bullets

its the solution to the mediocre stopping power of the 5.56mm bullet.

[tabasco]

7. Friend, I've seen the stopping power of a 5.56 round

And I would not want to be on the wrong end of it. Like another poster stated, dum-dum rounds are prohibited by civilized nations. But I'm not sure we're still civilized.

[Stephanie]

4. Why are we employing MERCENARIES in Iraq?

Is that SOP now? Is there any accountability in this? Is the public aware of it? How many are there, who pays them, what is their function?

[htuttle]

5. Yes they are

It is part of Rummy's New Army idea.

They are doing it because they don't have to report about them, and there isn't really any accountability. In addition, most of the Private Military Corporations are big Republican donors.

Nobody outside the Pentagon knows how many are there, taxpayers pay them (after the company gets their healthy vig), and they seem to perform a wide variety of functions, from tech types who work on equipment, to active combat roles.

They cost a lot more financially than regular government troops, but are cheaper politically. Just like the Billion Dollar Polish Brigade.

(on edit)

I was going to add that there are lots of US-employed mercenaries in Afghanistan and Columbia as well. And that's just what I know from the regular press. It's likely that there are more in other places.

[arcane1]

6. Wackenhut, Dyncorp, the list goes on

and none of that stinkin' accountability nonsense for them to deal with

methinks they are mainly there to "protect" the oil facilities, etc. In other words, keep their colonial secrets hidden and kill those who woefully find out!

[LizW]

8. Jesus Christ

This is the sickest thing I have read out of this whole horrible mess of a war.

How can we (the U.S.) allow private "security forces" (read mercenaries) to kill people in a country we occupy with no consequences? How do we know these paid killers aren't just picking off civilians because there's no accountability whatsoever? When someone is shot in the butt at a range of 100-110 yards, it doesn't sound to me like he's an "attacker". It sounds like he's running the hell away and didn't make it.

Is there no accountability for the company who created this ammunition? Doesn't it sound like they sent this stuff over to Iraq so it would be used on live targets to show what it could do? "Can't test on live animals? Hey! What about Iraqis? No one will give a damn if we blow some of them away!"

Doesn't it sound like this ex-Navy Seal is being paid to tout this stuff and it's killing power? How convenient. The maker is running up against problems getting a contract with the military, so they just go around them and give it to mercenaries who are free to shoot real, live targets and blab all over about what a great killer it is.

This makes me want to throw up.

[newyawker99]

11. Keithpotkin

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you.


NYer99
DU Moderator

[Keithpotkin]

12. my apologies

i thought i could get away with it b/c the paragraphs were so short. i thought it was % of article that mattered. my bad. :dunce:

[CarinKaryn]

13. This is sick on so many levels

We are sending mercs into foreign countires to test new weapon designs on civilians.

Are we proud we "liberated" Irag?

[bpilgrim]

15. so if he wasn't active duty who was he workin for?

the corps and they are above reproach or regulation just ask kenny boy

peace