Pentagon to triple the number of drones

[Rez O. Lewshun]

* Massacre Caught on Tape: US Military Confirms Authenticity of Their Own Chilling Video Showing Killing of Journalists *

The US military has confirmed the authenticity of newly released video showing US forces indiscriminately firing on Iraqi civilians. On Monday, the website WikiLeaks.org posted footage taken from a US military helicopter in July 2007 as it killed twelve people and wounded two children. The dead included two employees of the Reuters news agency, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh. We speak with WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange and Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

* After First Denying Involvement, US Forces Admit Killing Two Pregnant Afghan Women & Teenager *

US-led forces have admitted for the first time to killing two pregnant Afghan women and a teenage girl during a nighttime raid in eastern Afghanistan on February 12th. NATO officials initially denied any involvement but were later forced to admit to the killings after the Times of London and other news outlets published accounts of survivors who described how the atrocity was carried out by US-led forces. We speak with Jerome Starkey, the Times of London correspondent in Afghanistan who broke the story.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

 

[MGlobemaster]

I thought of this thread the moment I saw that video. I believe that the apache drivers are wrong as hell here. Even given the benefit of the doubt that the first guys were carrying weapons, what they did to the people with the van was apalling and a clear violation of the 2007 roe's. But it also has nothing to do with drones so take your anti-war posts to another thread or, even better, off the Internet period. There's already plenty of it on the net as is.

 

[waka]

What's with all of the lamenting over an unmanned Air Force? If it can be done with more efficiency and safety, it should be.

Granted, it is a a bit sad. However, the future is now.. Learn it, know it, live it, or it will come back a bite you in the ass!

 

[CFI2766]

What's with all of the lamenting over an unmanned Air Force? If it can be done with more efficiency and safety, it should be.

Granted, it is a a bit sad. However, the future is now.. Learn it, know it, live it, or it will come back a bite you in the ass!

Uhhhh...No. An unmanned Air Force is neither more efficient nor more safe. There can be arguments made for certain missions to be handled by unmanned vehicles, but it's grossly naive to think that the overall role of the USAF can be handled by unmanned assets.

 

[waka]

Uhhhh...No. An unmanned Air Force is neither more efficient nor more safe. There can be arguments made for certain missions to be handled by unmanned vehicles, but it's grossly naive to think that the overall role of the USAF can be handled by unmanned assets.

Actually, UAV's are far more efficient and UAV's are far safer. It is more naive to live in denial.

 

[CrewDawg]

Actually, UAV's are far more efficient and UAV's are far safer. It is more naive to live in denial.

This statement is very naive...

Having a 2-ship of strike eagles in a cap for 4 hours vs. a UAV....dollars and cent, we agree. But, I think we are finding that UAV's are not always the right answer. Have a human in the cockpit, on station, brings a dynamic to the fight that may have been underestimated.

 

[Birdstrike]

Have a human in the cockpit, on station, brings a dynamic to the fight that may have been underestimated.

True, but at considerably more risk and cost than unmanned platforms, and that's what's driving the paradigm shift in the five-sided building. And at the rate of technological progression, you're still going to be virtually in that cockpit in every respect, except for pulling those Gs that would kill you if you were actually there. We ain't seen nothing yet.