Finding an ISIS Training Camp Using Google Earth 134
An anonymous reader writes: Terrorist organization ISIS has been in the news a lot lately for their hostile activities in Iraq and Syria. They've also been very active online, posting propaganda and photos on various social networking sites to try to recruit more members. Frequently, they'll have pictures of themselves in nondescript locations — but even carefully selected images give clues to a real location. Citizen journalists at Bellingcat analyzed a group of these photos, comparing buildings and bridges in the background to images from Google Earth. With very little to go on, they were able to pinpoint the location of a terrorist training camp.
Re:I'm looking now (Score:5, Insightful)
. . . the trouble is . . . the training camp is probably conveniently located right next to a hospital or a school.
Time to build a cruise missile and send it over (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, the real question is, did this interfere with an on-going operation? I would hate to think that showing them how easy it is to find out info from their propaganda would stop its flow.
Re:How do they know who's camp it is? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you RTFA, you'd see that they referenced ISIS PR videos, so it's not just "oh that looks like it might be training camp" but "these geo features from the videos correspond exactly to this thing here on the map" type of analysis.
Re:Time to build a cruise missile and send it over (Score:3, Insightful)
Islam has been at war with everyone else from its inception. The West had to do nothing to incur their wrath. In fact, they need the West so they can claim to be victims and prepare their followers to die for Islam...and virgins...don't forget the virgins. Apparently, Heaven is full of them just waiting for a bunch of hairy, smelly jihadis.
You do realize that a sizable portion of the world's Muslims live in The West, right?
I think you're confusing Islam with a particular politically motivated Islamic sect -- kind of like people do with the Crusades, Westboro, calling the US a Christian country that abuses its power, etc.
It's not that religions are at war with everyone; it's that they can be easily abused for political gain, if care is not taken to prevent this.