The big difference between an unmanned and manned aircraft is SA (Situational Awareness). SA is the difference between a pilot and an expert pilot. It’s what wins air combat engagements, wastes AA missiles, and has airliners ditching in the Hudson instead of crash landing fully fueled downtown.
Maybe one day we will be able to transfer so much data between a ground base and an aircraft that a pilot will get the same or better information in a simulation terminal as he would in a cockpit. But that day is a long way’s off, so certain jobs require pilots.
One of those jobs is air supremacy. Our whole military machine currently assumes we’ll have full air supremacy. And that is one of the roles of the F22. Of course, some argue that we don’t need the F22 because – “We always try to fight the last war” – the last war in their assumption being the cold war. Of course, that’s illogical. They’re assuming the next war will be like the current one – which is a logical equivalence of: “Fighting the last war.”
And no, the F22 isn’t expensive. In training it can take out several F-18s with simple ease. That means two F-22 could kill a whole county’s worth of fighter planes. That’s cheep even for $150 million each. Hell, if each F22 could only counter 3 enemy planes of the most modern design and piloted by world class pilots – it would be breaking even. But it can kill more like – however many missiles it carries.
Over reliance on drones is indeed a problem. But it’s a normal problem during a ‘pacifist’ administration. Clinton
would have relied on drones too, but all he had were Tomahawk missiles. They like Special Forces as well – any way to cause necessary affect without troop commitment.
The main problem with the drone strikes is that they’re messy. While we have Eric Holder over here dancing around – trying to prosecute CIA officers and treating KSM and Fire Britches like bank robbers – we have unmanned death-birds silently and swiftly blowing a building to bits based on an intelligence assessment – terror suspect, family, friends, and all.
Now – to a rational person with all the facts, such a strike is an obvious wise move – tactically – assuming your goal is to kill Al Qaeda leaders. Of course, that’s not our goal. Our ultimate goal is to stop terror attacks. And to the Al Qaeda’s neighbors these random death-birds don’t seem too Hope and Changeful, especially when you’re picking your neighbor and his kids’ smelly caresses out of a pile of building.
And if you talk to “foreign policy experts” like Biden, we need more of this. Hell, we need to just evacuate the place to make the left happy and bomb the shit out of whatever from our carrier groups. And I saywhatever because that’s what we’d be hitting. We’d be flying our drones around, looking at a village all day, making decisions with piss-poor SA and half-ass intelligence, and pushing buttons.
This would be apposed to our current strategy of protecting the citizenry. This would be apposed to sending some troops in to chat the villagers up – and hopefully convince them that the Taliban and their limping dog Al Qaeda aren’t going to win.
Of course I’m not suggesting we send troops in rather than use the drones in the areas we’re currently striking. I’m just pointing out how incompetent leadership (the kind you get from democracies) can takeover reliance to an obnoxious magnitude. What I am also suggesting is that Obama get Holder on a leash – along with his other dogs – and keep them from chomping their bellies full in the CIA’s food and litter-box. It’s fucking discussing – seriously.
More plainly, the CIA and intelligence efforts in general are our only hope of thwarting this world wide network of Pan Islamic militants. So let’s stop the civilian court justice charade and treat terror suspects first as intelligence sources. Once the experts spend a few weeks wringing them out Obama can go ahead and convict them and apply the death penalty to them with a fair and public civil trial – lol. Just kidding. We don’t want to blow our intelligence sources and assets so the trial sure as shit can’t be public – nor should it be civilian. Obama can convict and kill all the terror suspects all he wants with military tribunals.
And let’s stop harassing the CIA for trying to stop what everyone though were certain follow-up attacks. BTW – CIA –
about that double-agent that made you look like a bitch: Hey, you missed that one. But you’re keeping us alive down here so keep up the good work.
Anyway, from what I hear the attitude from upper leadership is counterproductive, from the CIA down to airport security. Since the Obama brigade took over, it’s been: Go ahead and take a risk following up that lead. But God help your racist bigoted unemployed and possibly prosecuted ass if you’re wrong. So go ahead, make a stink about the Islamic army psychologist. Yeah, add that black Muslim out of Yemin to the Evil-Bush Fascist thoughtless-American no-fly list.
With regard to the terror tactics being used against us, the thing America isn’t short of is justice. We’re arguing that slapping is torture ffs! What we’re lacking is a robust and highly motivated can-do intelligence community. And who can blame the intelligence community for being sheepish. They’re vilified by the Left and the Left is in charge and trying to prosecute some of their finest.
What we’re lacking are enough guys on the ground in and around Afghanistan and Pakistan growing beards, speaking Farsi, and sipping the awful mint tea – likewise the Arabian Peninsula, Africa, and all else. We don’t need more bureaucracy. America is for some reason blessed with individuals who are willing to live and breath the deadly and thankless job of intelligence. They don’t need President this or Senator that deciding to institute a new parade of appointee lead stupidity to help them out.
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Raging Kitty