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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Walkingshadow who wrote (200602)	11/7/2001 12:35:37 AM
From: Thomas A Watson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

I am not pessimistic and I am not optimistic. I look at what is different now. Taliban do not have a major power supporting them in their battle. Taliban are rejected by many who live in Afghanistan. Taliban are fighting binnie's war and not for Afghanistan. The Soviet Union fought in Afghanistan with 1950 technology except for helicopters with rockets. The Soviets attempted to control the country with occupation. The Soviets also fought against American technology provided to the Afghans. With simulation rehearsal technology, a pilot can plan an exact angle of attack and as he clears to hilltop can know exactly where he will target and target within seconds of having sight of the target. Special ops also have this capability. This is deadly and can decapitate an enemy. It is not easy, but there is nothing like American know how and determination. Our forces and technology can identify with remote undetected sensors what and where the Taliban and Arabs are hiding and any movement. We have the ability to focus deadly force quickly. Our forces have mobility and we own the night and in the cold we are even more able to see. Bad weather also freezes the enemy in place. Any clear weather creates a deadly environment. I would guess the Taliban have never had to plan for resupply under such deadly condition. Time is the enemy of the Taliban As to future terrorism, I believe that the success of 911 and the subsequent mobilization and extensive focus and cooperation caught the terrorists by surprise and I expect that many have been detected and detained and other plans may have been destroyed by the actions to freeze money and look closely at all suspects. I would expect fear and caution is the method of any current terrorists and missing members of cells have greatly impacted the cohesion of cells. As to the bunkers, my fear is that they could be booby trapped to kill including suicide. But I believe that all tunnels exits can be identified and even layout of the internal caves. I'd expect that shaped charges and other weapons can seal and encourage those inside to exit at a chosen location or die. tom watson tosiwmee In my prior posts I spoke poorly and I apologize if my words caused offense.

To: Walkingshadow who wrote (200602)	11/7/2001 12:11:49 PM
From: Thomas A Watson	Respond to of 769670

More on why I think what is different is so important. I have done a lot in visualization. I have worked with and created a lot of visualization. watman.com My own 3D imagery. I think I have published more high res 3D images than anyone one else in the world. watman.com pbase.com I also have over 13,000 photos 2d at xga resolution. If you want to learn about IFSAR and see my 3d fly by of BWI airport. watman.com To download my 10.9meg 640x480 simulation of a flyby and landing created using radar data. watman.com And I attended this Defense Summit last week and saw what was described in this article. Visualization supports special forces By DAN VERTON (November 05, 2001) CRYSTAL CITY. Va. -- U.S. fighter pilots and the military's Special Forces are preparing for missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere using advanced visualization technologies that provide amazingly accurate virtual models of buildings, cities and terrain. The Navy has deployed a 3-D visualization software tool developed by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. called Tactical Operational Scene (TopScene) aboard several U.S. Navy aircraft carriers that are now supporting raids against terrorist targets in Afghanistan, experts said. TopScene, which runs on commercial, high-performance computers designed by SGI, integrates real-world satellite imagery, handheld photography, and video with Digital Terrain Elevation Data to produce realistic 3-D pictures that are accurate to within less than 1 meter. Pilots and soldiers are able to use the system to fly or walk through a virtual representation of the exact location to which they are being sent to conduct operations. Anteon's Bob Mace demonstrated TopScene at the Defense Summit. "They order imagery like they do ammunition," said Bob Mace, an executive at Fairfax, Va.-based Anteon Corp. who serves as deputy program manager for mission rehearsal at the Navy's TopScene program office in Patuxent River, Md. Mace demonstrated the system here at the first SGI Defense Summit, sponsored by SGI and seven other IT companies. The system was also used during the 1999 war in Kosovo. And an imagery and terrain database of Yemen was built in only two days after terrorists detonated a bomb that nearly sunk the Navy destroyer USS Cole, Mace said. Since then, TopScene 4000 systems, which run on SGI Infinite Reality high-performance computers, have become standard equipment on every aircraft carrier, Mace said. Special Forces, which are operating on the ground in Afghanistan, have a 3-D urban visualization tool at their disposal called RealSite. Developed by Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris Corp., RealSite was used by security forces to plan where to position monitoring equipment and personnel during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec in April. It has also been used to prepare for the Olympics in Salt Lake City and to study the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Harris developed the imagery database for the Olympics security planning in one week and produced virtual walk-through scenes of 3,000 buildings in New York in two days, said Joe Nemethy, Harris' RealSite product manager. Harris is currently working with the city of Orlando on security planning and with the Pentagon's National Imagery and Mapping Agency to produce models of every major port facility in the U.S., said Nemethy. "Collaborative visualization" is the key to teamwork, said SGI Chairman and CEO Robert Bishop. He said these technologies could also benefit private industries, including the manufacturing, energy, medical and media industries. Related stories: Private-sector IT key in war on terrorism, Nov. 5, 2001 Complete Computerworld coverage of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. computerworld.com tom watson tosiwmee