csua.org/u/di5 -> observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html
The Observer It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katri na. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and p inpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers r isk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet 's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for milita ry purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing. Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War . The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to sho ot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was bre ached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have stu died the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly. Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for go vernment and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources cl ose to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped. If divers or windsurfers are mist aken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight wer e found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until U S navy scientists had examined them. Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphins wer e not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose waters devastated New Orle ans. The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Die go in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small electrodes p lanted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protect Trident subma rines in harbour and stationary warships at sea. Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became mo re secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror atta ck on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.
|
http://csua.com/feed/