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-Lurid Crime Tales-
"Smart dust" may have helped get Zarqawi
2006-06-11
Strategy Page

For the last ten years, development of "smart dust" has moved right along. "Smart Dust" is basically very miniaturized electronic devices. This is similar to stuff like RFID, smart cards, EZ Pass and those rice grain size tracking devices you can have injected into your pets. But Smart Dust takes this all to a new level by being small enough to be disguised as dirt, the kind you can pick up in your shoes or clothing. Each bit of Smart Dust can be given a unique serial number that, when hit with an "interrogation signal" from troops on the ground, or aircraft overhead, is broadcast back. Some forms of Smart Dust are believed to be in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also believed that Smart Dust played a role in the recent death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi. In this case, if someone were able to sprinkle some Smart Dust on Zarqawi's clothing, it would have been a simple matter to track him with great precision. Iraqis have already heard of this stuff, but regard it more as "magic dust." Iraqis have a tendency to exaggerate American capabilities, especially when it comes to technology. But U.S. troops have learned to use this exaggerated reputation to their advantage, threatening Iraqis with magical capabilities that don't exist. That often works, just like smart dust.
Posted by:Mike

#17  D *** it, so thats where my Skittles disappeared to.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2006-06-11 23:02  

#16  How appropriate, a 2001 penney. The application list obviously predates asshat-tracking. Obviously the transmission range is very limited.
Posted by: flyover   2006-06-11 20:28  

#15  One form of Smart Dust at this dated link

The goal of the Smart Dust project is to build a self-contained, millimeter-scale sensing and communication platform for a massively distributed sensor network. This device will be around the size of a grain of sand and will contain sensors, computational ability, bi-directional wireless communications, and a power supply, while being inexpensive enough to deploy by the hundreds. The science and engineering goal of the project is to build a complete, complex system in a tiny volume using state-of-the art technologies (as opposed to futuristic technologies), which will require evolutionary and revolutionary advances in integration, miniaturization, and energy management. We forsee many applications for this technology:


Weather/seismological monitoring on Mars


Internal spacecraft monitoring


Land/space comm. networks


Chemical/biological sensors


Weapons stockpile monitoring


Defense-related sensor networks


Inventory Control


Product quality monitoring


Smart office spaces


Sports - sailing, balls

Posted by: 3dc   2006-06-11 20:21  

#14  Y'all gettin' the same Google ad on the right sidebar as me?

Snork!
Posted by: Parabellum   2006-06-11 19:27  

#13  ...Even if this isn't true, the AlQueers have GOT to be soiling themselves right now reading this. They have relied on the eternal dust itself to hide them - and now it may be betraying them. Clarke's Law strikes again.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2006-06-11 19:03  

#12  For some reason, Cheech & Chong came to mind.
Posted by: flyover   2006-06-11 18:02  

#11  #7: Wow! Fairy dust!
Damn, beat me to it, I have "Tinkerbell" firmly in mind sprinkling Osama with a bit of tracking dust and zipping away as the bombs zero in.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2006-06-11 17:58  

#10  wife of Zarqawi who had been collecting info on the Coalition and Iraqi forces ... not clear how she got it.

A classic order of battle analytical failure and death by PPT.
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-06-11 17:45  

#9  It's deployed by Apache trackers.
Posted by: 6   2006-06-11 17:39  

#8  occupied by unknown women of questionable origin.

At least one of the women in the house was a wife of Zarqawi who had been collecting info on the Coalition and Iraqi forces ... not clear how she got it.
Posted by: lotp   2006-06-11 17:26  

#7  Wow! Fairy dust!
Posted by: Slopinski   2006-06-11 17:16  

#6  knowing an "Islamic Religious Leader™" was there, I'm surprised no young boyz were found
Posted by: Frank G   2006-06-11 16:30  

#5  We're of the same thought GK. Isolated houses in the country...attended by 'spiritual advisors'...occupied by unknown women of questionable origin.
Posted by: Skidmark   2006-06-11 16:20  

#4  Was the leopard-pattern outfit sized for a medium or large goat?
Posted by: Brett   2006-06-11 16:19  

#3  Maybe someone else wore it in to the not-so-safe house. I was thinking maybe the "skimpy slip in a leopard skin pattern".
Posted by: GK   2006-06-11 15:10  

#2  If the Z-Man had just used more Lemon Pledge and a good vacuum cleaner, all this unpleasantry could have been avoided?
Posted by: Darrell   2006-06-11 14:52  

#1  If smart dust was used, it would mean a US informant got close enough to the Z-Man to sprinkle his clothes. Actually, I thought smart dust would be radioactive dust sprinkled on Soviet cars and clothing to track soviet agents' movements. That DOES exist and was used by the FBI during the last years of the Cold War.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2006-06-11 14:32  

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