About 15 minutes ago @Tripolitanian tweets, “Air-strikes desperately needed on Grad rocket launchers in #MISRATA.” This is the first time I have seen close air support be requested via any sort of social network. It’s conceivable that early initiatives in the Afghan war were carried out with the assistance of Friendster. That would explain how we almost but not quite were successful in capturing Bin Laden.
I would assume, however, that Supreme Allied Command knows better than to deploy weaponry based on anonymous tweets. (That’s one hell of a name, by the way, “Supreme Allied Command.” Imagine meeting someone who works there and then you have to tell them you wait tables at the Olive Garden. Of course that’s just a temporary gig until you get your website ready to launch. It’s a social network for insurrectionists but not jihadis.)
Why do I need to hate on @Tripolitanian though? Probably my biggest beef is that the guy (or gal) has like 8,000 followers and he (or she) has only been on Twitter since the middle of February. True, a lot of those are going to be bots, but apparently someone in Brussels is listening. As is someone in Flint. To be honest, though, I’m not sure I want @MMFlint following me. I produce enough snark on my own.