Strange but true. Coalition forces fighting in Iraq are buying genealogy software and entering data about thousands of known members of the insurgent forces. They may be using the same genealogy program that you use to record your ancestry.
Coalition forces discovered that the "gangs of Iraq" operate in a similar fashion to ethnic gangs (including Arab ones) in the United States and Europe. The genealogy software is useful in tracking the relations between family members in gangs. Many gangs are primarily family-based, with many distant cousins coming together because of family loyalty.
DNA analysis and all the tools you see on criminal detective television shows are brought to bear in investigations. When a suspect is captured or a body recovered, DNA analysis helps to show how that person fits into the known families of related terrorists.
Writing in the Strategy Page web site, James Dunnigan reports that it is no accident that the 4th Infantry Division captured Saddam Hussein. Dunnigan reports that the 4th Infantry is the most high tech outfit in the army, with more geeks per battalion than any other combat organization.
There is a lot more discussion about the use of technology in Dunnigan's article. You can read the entire story on the Strategy Page.
