MICROWAV.CBS 10/04/04 11:51 PM-DLR   1:25
Maybe THIS will get the world to love us.  This is Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network.
Science is clearly on the march.  Monday, SpaceShipOne made its second flight beyond the atmosphere and won the $10 million X-prize, and now the Air Force is preparing to award a $22 million dollar contract to develop a new non-lethal battlefield weapon.
25 years of research have led to a super-conducting generator small enough to fit in a cargo plane and powerful enough to beam focused microwaves at enemy troops on the ground below - microwaves that would make them feel like their skin is on fire.
Apparently, when you feel your skin is on fire, you quickly reconsider whose side you're on.
The weapons holds some promise for battles like the war in Iraq, where you want to be able to control insurgents without killing them.  You'd fire the weapon, drop some leaflets explaining that we're just trying to help, and they would discard their insurgent ways, and come to love us, once they finish writhing in pain.
It's all reminiscent of the 1951 sci-fi-classic "The day the earth stood still" when Klaatu and his robot Gort used a mysterious power to temporarily paralyze the earth, teaching us all a lesson about brotherhood, and introducing an entire generation to creepy-sounding movie soundtracks.
Except this would be real - airborne microwaves, a weapon of mass paralysis.
Sounds like it ought to be a pretty good democracy-spreader if we can get it built in time.  My only concern is that - every cool new weapon we build eventually seems to find its way into the hands of someone we don't like.
On the bright side though, at least after an attack, all your leftovers would be nice and warm.
Now this.
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