Here is an answer to the question, can use of a cell phone be dangerous to your health? NY Daily News.
Hellfire homed in
on terrorist's cell phone
By RICHARD SISK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
QUANTICO, Va. - The six terrorists zapped by a Predator drone in Yemen two weeks ago were caught in the cross hairs after one gave away their position by carelessly using a mobile phone, an official said yesterday.
The way the U.S. zeroed in on the Al Qaeda crew came up incidentally yesterday as Pentagon trainers briefed soldiers and reporters heading to the gulf in the event there is a war.
Air Force Lt. Col. Sam Hudspath told reporters that cellular and satellite phones would be barred to prevent the enemy from zeroing in on them and cited the spectacular strike on a car in the Yemeni desert.
When Abu Ali, a key Osama Bin Laden lieutenant, was vaporized with five colleagues in his sport-utility vehicle by a Hellfire missile, "the targeting was from the use of a cell phone," Hudspath said.
Even though Al Qaeda operatives have stopped using cell phones because they have figured out that U.S. counterterror forces are "reading their mail," they can't always help themselves - as the Yemeni operation demonstrated.
Administration officials say Ali's death warrant was sealed when a supersecret National Security Agency communications satellite intercepted a phone call with an electronic "signature" that was being watched for by U.S. eavesdroppers.
Ali, whose real name was Ali Qaed Senyan al-Harthi and who allegedly masterminded the Cole bombing, made the call at a farm he owns, then got in the car with six men.
A Predator plane high in the sky tracked their progress, then unleashed the Hellfire, vaporizing the vehicle.
Yemeni officials revealed yesterday that one man left the car moments before it exploded and got away. The fugitive, whose name was not revealed, is being hunted.
Similarly, even though he knew better, Ramzi Binalshibh, a senior Al Qaeda official who was snatched this year in Pakistan, made an indiscreet cell phone call that was picked up by U.S. intelligence. That security breach, sources said, led directly to his capture.
"They know they shouldn't do it," one official said, "but sometimes they think they've been so careful that they figure one call won't make a difference."
That's why U.S. resources continue to be heavily invested in electronic monitoring even though the chances of success are not what they once were.
Ironically, some U.S. officials believe that the Yemeni whack was a bittersweet success because of the information Ali could have provided if taken alive.
"Grabbing them is always preferable to blowing them up," one official said. "But if it's a choice between losing them or blowing them up, you blow them up." |
