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271 (if, in those instances, the wand-weapon was used to blind with its beam, the goggles might have been required to pro- tect the "angel" from the blinding effects—a possibility sug- gested by recent developments (by the United States and several other countries) of blinding weapons as one kind of "nonlethal" weapons. Called Cobra Laser Rifles, these weap- ons employ a technique derived from both the surgical laser and the lasers that guide missiles. The soldiers using them must wear protective goggles, lest they be blinded by their own weapons). As a comparison of the above depictions with the helmeted and goggled Ishtar as a pilot (Fig. 33) suggests, the attire and weaponry of the Mal'akhim only emulated those of the Great Gods themselves. The great Enlil could "raise the beams that search the heart of all the lands" from his ziggurat in Nippur, and had there "eyes that could scan all the lands," as well as a "net" that could ensnare unauthorized encroachers. Ni- nurta was armed with "the weapon which tears apart and robs the senses" and with a Brilliance that could pulverize mountains, as well as with a unique IB—a "weapon with fifty killing heads." Teshub/Adad was armed with a "thun- der-stormer which scatters the rocks" and with the "lightning which flashes frightfully." Mesopotamian kings asserted from time to time that their patron deity provided them with divine weapons to assure a victory; it was thus even more plausible that the gods would provide weapons or magical wands to their own emissaries, the Angels. Indeed, the very notion of Divine Emissaries can be traced Figure 93 Angels and Other Emissaries