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November 15, 2005

Dog Bites Man - Predator Helps Take Out Insurgents

From The World Tribune via Drudge:

The Predator drone is helping to take down terrorists in Iraq. The Predator has been used as an unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle since NATO invaded Bosnia in 1995 to stop the ethnic cleansing. It has a cruising speed of 90mph and operates at an altitude up to 5 miles.

The Predator is not small. It stands 7 feet high and the length is over 26 feet. This means CIA agents can't carry it in a suitcase, but it also means you can put hellfire missiles and targeting systems inside.

The Predator's reconnaissance capabilities make it a useful tool for scanning ahead of an army unit or convoy to stop snipers or roadside bombers. The missiles enable it to take out the threats before the coalition forces come into range. Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper says reports of Predators taking out insurgents with hellfire missiles are "routine". (The fact that the hellfire-- an anti-tank weapon-- is being used to kill individual terrorists can be considered an example of Peg-Eye Nate's Law of Making Sure.)

We are continually told that Iraq is a quagmire, and this resonates with people because you can't fight a war in which it is impossible to tell friend from foe, in which the enemy is concerned only with killing while we have the much more difficult task of defending life itself. But the truth is we are a technological society, and we develop technological solutions to problems. The silly remote-control toy airplanes of the Twentieth Century have become the surgical strike weapon of the Twenty-First. The insurgents will come up with ways to fight this new threat, but that's an arms race, and nobody beats the United States of America in an arms race.

It would do well to remember that.

Respectfully submitted

Ferdinand T. Cat

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