Charlotte Dotson
Mr. Ippolito
11/1/19
Current Event 7
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
On Sunday, President Trump announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed after detonating a suicide vest. Many were confused as to how a body destroyed by a suicide vest could be identified so quickly, but the answer can be explained by forensic science.
The American Special Operations Forces used biometric and DNA tests to identify the body, some of which can give results within 90 minutes. These tests were especially important in this instance because “Suicide bombs often do leave the terrorist's head intact”. It is also possible that fingerprint identification and eye scanning methods were used, though the article notes that these methods are not always reliable. It is most likely that the Special Forces relied on portable Rapid DNA devices. These devices, often smaller than a microwave, can provide accurate results in 90 minutes or less-both the FBI and Pentagon use them. This identification was made possible because the United States “sampled and stored Mr. al-Baghdadi’s DNA when he was imprisoned at an American-run detention center in Iraq in the mid-2000s”.
For the most part, I found the article comprehensive and interesting. I appreciated that the author provided all the relevant information, but I do think she could have done it in a more organized fashion. For example, the second and third paragraphs should have been switched to provide a more compelling, narrative. I found this article very interesting for two reasons. First, it was interesting to read about how forensic science relates to a current event that has been a point of focus for the last week. I would never have considered the essential role forensic science played in being able to identify Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Secondly, I enjoyed reading about the methods employed by the Special Forces and comparing/contrasting them to the methods often described in “Death’s Acre”. Thought the cases in Death Acre are lower-profile cases, the same methods are employed to identify bodies such as fingerprints and DNA comparison. One difference is (to my knowledge) portable Rapid DNA machines did not exist or were not widely used at the time of the cases being described in Death’s Acre. Overall, I enjoyed reading an article demonstrating how the techniques we have studied/learned about in class are connected to large scale events.
5 comments:
Olivia Martin
Mr. Ippolito D Odd
November 5, 2019
Current Event #7
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2019/11/charlotte-dotson-mr.html
Charlotte’s review of “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” by Michael Crowley from The New York Times was well-written and very interesting. Firstly, I liked how Charlotte informatively and concisely summarized her article. She described the forensics tools used to identify Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s DNA very clearly. Additionally, I thought Charlotte’s critique of the article was very insightful. Switching the order of the paragraphs in the article could improve the article, and it reflects that she paid attention to detail to notice this. Lastly, I like how Charlotte compared the forensic tools used in the article to those used in Death’s Acre. Charlotte explained how in Death’s Acre, similar methods are used to identify bodies, but unfortunately rapid DNA tools were not available during that time.
I enjoyed reading Charlotte’s article, but she could slightly tweak a few things. Firstly, although the use of forensic science was the main aspect of the article, Charlotte could have given a bit of background information on the situation. Many people already know who Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is, but she could have clarified a bit about what is going on in the world. Additionally, Charlotte could have elaborated more on what rapid DNA devices are. Although the article did not describe them in great detail, a little more information about them could have made the review more interesting.
Charlotte’s review informed me about how quickly Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s DNA was identified. I was originally drawn to read Charlotte’s article as I thought the title was very intriguing and as I read the beginning of the review I found it very interesting. After reading this review, I now have a greater knowledge as to how quickly forensic scientists can identify a body and what tools they can utilize.
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
I really liked that you used quotes from the original article. Another thing that I think you did really well was incorporating Death’s Acre into your writing. I also really liked how you used your own knowledge and observed a difference.
One thing that you could have done was explain who Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was to the readers. Another thing that you could have possibly done better was spelling. For example, you started a sentence with thought even though the word should be though.
The aha moment for me was “These devices, often smaller than a microwave, can provide accurate results in 90 minutes or less-both the FBI and Pentagon use them. This identification was made possible because the United States “sampled and stored Mr. al-Baghdadi’s DNA when he was imprisoned at an American-run detention center in Iraq in the mid-2000s”.
Angie Pearson
Mr. Ippolito D Odd
November 5, 2019
Current Event #7
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2019/11/charlotte-dotson-mr.html
Charlotte wrote a great review on “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” by Michael Crowley. There were three parts of Charlotte's piece that I enjoyed. First off, Charlotte summarized this article in a concise, easy to read way. Next, I enjoyed how she added relevant quotes to deepen our understanding of her topic. Last, I enjoyed how Charlotte incorporated Death's Acre into her piece and comparing the forensic tools. Overall, Charlotte did a great job.
However, there were a few parts that could be improved, such as explaining who Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was to ensure the reader knows his importance. Another aspect that could be improved upon was possibly adding more details to the forensic DNA device such as how it works and what it does.
I I thought Charlottes review was quite interesting right from the get-go. Now, I understand just how quickly and precisely forensic scientist can identify an individual even when the body is practically unrecognizable.
Angie Pearson
Mr. Ippolito D Odd
November 5, 2019
Current Event #7
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2019/11/charlotte-dotson-mr.html
Charlotte wrote a great review on “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” by Michael Crowley. There were three parts of Charlotte's piece that I enjoyed. First off, Charlotte summarized this article in a concise, easy to read way. Next, I enjoyed how she added relevant quotes to deepen our understanding of her topic. Last, I enjoyed how Charlotte incorporated Death's Acre into her piece and comparing the forensic tools. Overall, Charlotte did a great job.
However, there were a few parts that could be improved, such as explaining who Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was to ensure the reader knows his importance. Another aspect that could be improved upon was possibly adding more details to the forensic DNA device such as how it works and what it does.
I I thought Charlottes review was quite interesting right from the get-go. Now, I understand just how quickly and precisely forensic scientist can identify an individual even when the body is practically unrecognizable.
Crowley, Michael. “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/dna-tests-baghdadi.html.
Charlotte’s review of “How Commandos Could Quickly Confirm They Got Their Target” by Michael Crowly was well written and thoroughly explained and informative. Charlotte did a good job of mentioning possible identification methods and how those may or may not be the best option based on reliability. In addition, I believe the quotes she pulled from the article were well selected as they not only provided more general information but they also explained how the special forces were able to complete these tests and get results so quickly. Lastly, Charlotte also did a good job of pointing out what the author could have done better as well as providing her own analysis and connecting the article to some of our own work in class reading Death’s Acre.
While Charlotte did a good job of summarizing the article and the contents discussed there were a few things she could have done to make her review better. First, I think the review could benefit from more context. Charlotte does a good job of explaining the article but does not provide much context beyond the first sentence. More context could be beneficial for other readers who may not be as familiar with what happened. In addition, there are a few minor errors in her writing that slowed the flow of the article. For example, she began a sentence with the word “thought” when she probably meant “though.” There were a few other small errors but nothing too bad.
Overall, I found this article and review to be very engaging and informative. The article talks about how U.S. Special Forces were able to quickly test and positively identify Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after he detonated his suicide vest in a tunnel. This helped provide a better understanding of how forensic science is used in identifying a deceased individual and furthermore, how there are many different approaches to proper identification and all have different amounts of accuracy/reliability and take different amounts of time.
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