I think the USSR, OBL and the Chinese, among others, learned the hard way just how effective elint can be. I don't think anyone knew cell and radio-telephones would be overheard. And for a lot of purposes the satellites can be effectively blinded and rendered useless.

Fiber-optic communication doesn't have an electromagnetic "aura" which can be overheard or, as far as I know, tapped. Not only can it not be read, but one can't even know how much traffic there is. Often, there's information not only in a message, but that a message has been sent.

If the normal traffic is 30 messages a day originating somewhere, and there are now 150, that says something. Of course a well organized operation will neither increase or decrease it's messages, but not all are well organized, and there are surprises which can require more activity.

Sometimes there are interfaces which might be read, or links which are electromagnetic, but those can be easier to protect if they are smaller and localized.

Saddam may have done himself some real damage by laying fiber optic cables, as in some cases what he's doing cannot be easily monitored. If one is up to no good it's best to be secretive, if one isn't, then transparency might be best.

And, you couldn't blame him for secrecy in the "no-fly zone" stuff. Fiber-optic makes some sense there.

Clearly a hard landline isn't workable for many applications. And for some things, say, a nuclear weapons plant, building underground and communicating with fiber-optics could complicate snooping.

Arf