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I caught Bob Woodward’s interview on Larry King the other night, promoting his new book, The War Within.

The part that grabbed me was when he attributed out recent success in Iraq not to the surge, but to a new secret weapon that is cleaning out the terror leaders. He also, apparently, discussed this on 60 Minutes the night before:

“This is very sensitive and very top secret, but there are secret operational capabilities that have been developed by the military to locate, target, and kill leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, insurgent leaders, renegade militia leaders. That is one of the true breakthroughs,” Woodward told Pelley.

“But what are we talking about here? It’s some kind of surveillance? Some kind of targeted way of taking out just the people that you’re looking for? The leadership of the enemy?” Pelley asked.

“I’d love to go through the details, but I’m not going to,” Woodward replied.

The details, Woodward says, would compromise the program.

“For a reporter, you don’t allow much,” Pelley remarked.

“Well no, it’s with reluctance. From what I know about it, it’s one of those things that go back to any war, World War I, World War II, the role of the tank, and the airplane. And it is the stuff of which military novels are written,” Woodward said.

“Do you mean to say that this special capability is such an advance in military technique and technology that it reminds you of the advent of the tank and the airplane?” Pelley asked.

“Yeah,” Woodward said. “If you were an al Qaeda leader or part of the insurgency in Iraq, or one of these renegade militias, and you knew about what they were able to do, you’d get your ass outta town.”

King asked him if this new technology could also be used to hunt Bin Laden, and Woodward said that he didn’t see why not, and perhaps that will be this election year’s October surprise.

Wired speculates on what the secret technology might be:

I believe he is talking about the much ballyhooed (in defense geek circles) “Tagging, Tracking and Locating” program; here’s a briefing on it from Special Operations Command. These are newfangled technologies designed to track people from long distances, without the targeted people realizing they are being tracked. That can theoretically include thermal signatures, or some sort of “taggant” placed on a person.

But that seems impersonal enough not to put anyone in immediate danger, as Woodward suggested.

Of course, if you’re a nutcase, take this with a grain of salt, as Alex Jones has an unusual take on Woodward:

Woodward either works for the CIA or was tapped as a “journalist” to release information the spook agency wants made public.

Thanks, Alex. I vote for cool, new, history-changing, ingenious war technology.

Tags:   iraq · WoodwardNo Comments