GPS our contracted workers in Iraq

[Feraud]

I know it's not under the skin (so it wouldn't help a contractor in Iraq), but pretty much every American can be tracked by their cell in their pocket, and tons of personal info all there for "whoever" to see. So is there any big difference? Pocket or skin it's all the same.

Exactly! We all engage in "tracking behavior" every day and do not think twice about it.
My gripe is with people who cry "foul!" the minute an organization expresses a coherent, beneficial use for such devices.

 

[Dapper Dan]

I would have to disagree with you on one point, MDFrench. While I agree with you that the location of the Jewish State is a very bad idea, I would disagree that the British Empire had a positive effect on the region.

During the tail-end of WWI, the British and French governments got together and formulated the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which was a planned division of the Ottoman Empire after the war was over and the Allies had won. Territories were formed based only on how useful they would be to a foreign power, viz. oil production and potential military outposts. Feuding ethnic groups were lumped into countries together and traditional friends were pulled apart. Famed Arabist T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") disagreed, drafting the following map which took into account tribal patterns, ethnic identity, and commercial routes.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Lawrence_map800.jpg

I would propose that it is precisely the machinations of Western powers that have caused the problems we see today in the modern-day Middle East. I'm not going so far as to say that all their problems are due to the White Man, because at a certain point one has to take credibility for a failure to change, but I can't say that the West has ever done them any good.

Also, in regards to your comment that petty bickering tore apart the hope for an Arab state after WWI, "Lawrence of Arabia" took liberties with the way this was presented. The Arab Council actually succesfully controlled Damascus, and Syria, until 1920, when Prince Faisal was deposed by the French, and the Arabs were forced out by the French at the point of a gun.

"So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are." - Screen adaptation from T.E. Lawrence's "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

 

[Undertow]

I tried to read Matt's updated link but it wouldn't come up. Has there been any development on this issue?

I personally believe implanting a chip places our society on a slippery slope. I know it's a bit paranoid of me, but if the plan were successful, what's to say our government wouldn't require states to "certify" sex offenders with the chip? And soon after, why not certify all violent felons? While we're at it, we may want to certify known drug dealers. And after something that extensive, why not start marking our kids so they don't get "lost" or "stolen".

Once we've blazed down that hill, and some of that generation has gotten used to the idea of a chip being implanted into one's skin, heck, no more ID theft worries: get implanted!

I don't know. I think I like the simpler things.

 

[Diamondback]

Speaking for myself as both a tech-geek and a combatant, I wouldn't want such chips in me or my squad. The bad guys got hackers and gearheads, too, y'know... which means they could kludge together some contraption to pickup the beacon's signals.

Me, if I'm going to be in the situation, I'd rather nobody, aside from maybe the artillery/air-support, know where me and my team are until the lead starts flying, nor have the slightest clue about same after the firing ceases until we're back at the FOB.

 

[Twitch]

Ya know when I was in-country in 1969-70 we got so sick of seeing little kids booby trapped to intermingle with GIs and Charlie's brutality against farmers who just wanted to farm and using innocent people from vills to draw our fire or to use them as human shields we came up with a saying-

"Nuke 'em till they glow then shoot 'em in the dark." We just wished they'd have nuked the whole freakin mess. Same feelings 2007.:eusa_clap

 

[Undertow]

Ya know when I was in-country in 1969-70 we got so sick of seeing little kids booby trapped to intermingle with GIs and Charlie's brutality against farmers who just wanted to farm and using innocent people from vills to draw our fire or to use them as human shields we came up with a saying-

"Nuke 'em till they glow then shoot 'em in the dark." We just wished they'd have nuked the whole freakin mess. Same feelings 2007.:eusa_clap

I can only imagine the troops' frustration in these situations.

 

[Nashoba]

I can only imagine the troops' frustration in these situations.

They are very frustrated.