Report: U.S. Collected ‘Incredibly Sensitive’ Biometric Info on 10% of Iraqi Population
- Posted on December 22, 2011 at 2:06pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Photo: US Army)
Even though the last of the U.S. troops have pulled out of Iraq, Wired reports that the U.S. collected a significant amount of specific biometric information from Iraqis for a database that will continue to be used in establishing who is a good guy or bad guy.
Wired’s Danger Room reports that the database with “incredibly sensitive information” formed over several years and containing about 3 million Iraqis will remain U.S. property. Troops collecting the information used scanning devices to capture digital copies of retinas and thumb prints, among other things.
Wired has more on how the information was used during the war:
Some Iraqis got their unique identifiers recorded because they were suspected insurgents on their way to detention centers. Residents of violent cities like Fallujah would only get to return home from travel if they showed U.S. troops an ID card complete with biometric data. Iraqis underwent iris scans when they wanted to join the police. So did Iraqis who worked on U.S. bases.
It was all part of an effort to answer the war’s most vexing challenge: distinguishing insurgents from Iraqi civilians. And that effort isn’t going away, even after the war technically ended. It’ll be part of U.S. counterterrorism missions for a long time to come.
“Certainly, if someone was in another country or another place and showed up somewhere, we’d compare information to see if it’s someone we had info on,” [Army Maj. T.G.] Taylor explains. For instance, “if they show up in Afghanistan, we collect biometric data [on the individual, maybe] we don’t see them there. But we run it through this database and we see them show up.”
Now that the U.S. has pulled out, the database will still be used. Wired reports that biometric information has also been collected from Afghan citizens:
“We have this information, and rather than cull through it all and say ‘bad guy, good guy, bad guy, good guy, it’s better to just keep it, because that would be very time consuming,” Taylor says. “Biometric data was collected on people who worked on the bases. You’re a good guy; you worked here. It’s not like we’re collecting [data] on an enemy.”
Wired reports that the Iraqi database is being held at Central Command and that Iraqi citizens wanting to access information could potentially do so through the U.S. embassy in Iraq.
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iono12345
Posted on December 23, 2011 at 8:45pmWell when names are the same and you don’t know who to trust this is the best way to track the players, its was a war get over it, they are lucky we didn’t rape pillage and burn like real warriors oh and take their oil not let the Chinese move in and take control…F’n sad, really sad…..
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on December 23, 2011 at 10:22amHmnn…
Report Post »g00gle-expert
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 5:03pmI can’t wait till this hits the mother land. Stay tuned folks; fun times are just ahead!
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 5:51pmYeah, not so sure about this. “Everything that can be used for great good, can beused for great evil.” Worrisome, very worrisome.
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 10:22pmthese control freaks need to be stopped…
Report Post »Marsh626
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 4:58pmFrom what I read from an embedded war reporter, the Afghan’s jumped at the chance to get their national ID cards.
The U.S. troops would walk around with these devices that would scan your eye balls, take your finger prints, take your DNA while at the same time taking your picture and printing out an ID card.
For whatever reason, Afghan’s really wanted these things. Afghanistan is the 5th poorest country in the world. So. a lot of these people had never really seen technology and they have no government or infrastructure.
So, just getting an ID card was exciting for them. They ran to get them from our troops like kids chasing after an ice cream truck.
The reporter said that insurgents, islamic jihadists and criminals were found this way. The U.S. Soldier could beam this biometric data he just made of the locals to a data base and forensic investigations on weapons and bombs we did previously (or later) could send our soldiers an instant red flag alerting hiim that the person he just scanned is a bad guy.
Iraq is more developed than Afghanistan, but I imagine people there acted the same way to getting scanned. They probably liked it, oddly enough.
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 4:54pminbreeding with all minorities has become epidemic.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 4:31pmWe should have done it to more than 10%…..we should have got at least 50% of them in 9 years.
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 4:42pmWith many Muslims married to their own family, I wonder how many were determined to be inbred through DNA testing (if testing was conducted).
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