YES, Marines in Iraq Issued Laser Weapons

I'll admit when I saw the headline I was expecting something more like this.


NO, they call this thing the "dazzler"...because it bedazzles the eyes...temporarily.

"Dazzlers," as they're called, shoot green beams designed to "warn or temporarily incapacitate individuals," according to a Defense Science Board report extensively quoted in the Post's story.

The Geneva Conventions ban weapons meant to cause permanent blindness, but a Pentagon spokesman explained two years ago that "Dazzlers" didn't fall into that category.