Shock and awe

http://www.sfbg.com/nessie/12.html

ANY SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED form of technology is indistinguishable from magic. On February 5, 2000 the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported what appears to be a remarkable instance of techno-magic not used nine years ago. It was to have been a psychological operation (or psy-op) of epic proportions. It didn't happen. Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought "news" was supposed to be about something that did happen – something new and (preferably) something unusual. Now this is a truly unusual story; there's no denying that. The timing, nine years after the (alleged) fact, is curious, too. But it's nothing new.

Here's the short version:

U.S. Air Force planners proposed this for a bloodless victory in the Gulf conflict: Project a giant hologram over Iraq. The "face of Allah" would appear in the sky. As the faithful prostrated themselves, microwaves would be used to project the "voice of Allah" directly into their heads. They would rise up, as "Allah" told them to, and overthrow Saddam.

(snip)

Another problem, a big problem, is that Islam forbids the depiction of the face of Allah. It was a real monkey wrench in the works, perhaps the very reason the plan was not carried out, assuming of course that there was such a plan in the first place and this story about it isn't the psy-op. The way I figure it, if there was such a plan it wasn't carried out because somebody higher up in the command structure remembered that Iraqis aren't one bit dumber than we are. They just live somewhere else, that's all. Computer-generated imagery and flashy special effects are not unknown there. Neither is American treachery.

The plan also presents formidable technical challenges. This kind of projection requires a mirror behind it. To create an image of that size would require a mirror several kilometers across, floating in space. The largest mirror they've been able to develop so far has been only 30 meters wide. Present versions are too small to produce a convincing image at ground level. Or so we're told.

It is possible, however, to make a mirror out of thin air. When warm air lies on top of cold air, the difference in density bends the light. At high enough altitudes, a mirage can make whole landscapes appear in the sky. In theory an artificial mirage could be created by heating the atmosphere with radio waves or microwaves. Sorta makes you wonder about HAARP, doesn't it?

The U.S. military appears to believe in the potential use of holograms. A USAF think tank supposedly devised uses ranging from deceptive holographic imaging to the sci-fi-like distortion field projector. These projectors are described as useful for strategic deception purposes, particularly against an unsophisticated adversary. They would be projected by a airborne hologram projector. A current equivalent of such an aircraft is the Commando Solo, a modified Hercules cargo plane festooned with aerials and antennae and carrying pods of classified electronics. It can transmit across the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio and television signals. More sophisticated craft remain classified. As a general rule, military technological innovation tends to outstrip what is public knowledge by one to two decades.

This story is also startlingly familiar to one circulating in the Paranoid Community about another alleged plan known as Project Blue Beam. As the story goes, Project Blue Beam is a plan by the New World Order, or the Ruling Elite, or the Illuminati, or the Bilderburgers, or maybe it was the Shriners, to fake the Second Coming of Christ with laser holography and microwave-based mass mind control as part of a plan to usher in One World Government or some such atrocity.

(snip)