Blind opposition

The U.S. military plans to use blinding lasers against drivers in Iraq who do not heed checkpoints. The blinding effects are supposed to be temporary, but permanent damage remains possible. Such weapons are banned by a Geneva protocol -- but hey, who pays attention to those anymore?

Employment of such devices in Iraq will, of course, lead to widespread usage within our own borders. Military theorists who excuse the use of so-called "non-lethal" weaponry always say that bullets are more brutal. That's true, but the great and troubling issue with non-lethals is the lowered threshold for use: Soldiers and police who would hesitate to fire bullets into a crowd will not hesitate to use weapons involving sound, light, or electromagnetic radiation. Do we truly want to make non-violent protest a thing of the past?

If the Soviet Union possessed non-lethal weaponry it would still exist. The threat of rebellion is the only thing that has ever kept any government honest. Any technology that makes rebellion impossible makes tyranny inevitable.