NIFTY STUFF

Army Gen. Tommy Franks watched ground forces advance toward Baghdad on dozens of high-definition, flat-panel plasma monitors.

On one screen, the former commander of the Central Command observed a blue icon representing friendly forces moving across a plasma television, far ahead of its squadron and approaching enemy territory.

“It was moving boldly toward downtown Baghdad,” Franks recalled.

Franks began to fear that the troops were too far ahead of supporting units, but he soon got word that the blue forces on the screen were only 30 minutes in front of a reconnaissance force headed for Saddam International Airport. That airport, Franks was informed, would be seized in less than four hours.

The message and the technology used to convey it got the same reaction. “Oh my God!” ...

“(The networked system) for the first time in history gave ground commanders a precise sense of forces,” Franks said.

The same was true in Afghanistan, Franks said...

“Operating in a netcentric way completely destroyed the Taliban in 75 days,” he said.