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Pentagon to triple the number of drones

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The NRA? What does this video have to do with the NRA? Marketing and packaging patriotism of only a certain flavor? Specific to certain group? How many American flags do I need on my car before you approve?

Nothing more simplistic than a demanding Col Jessup "I just assume you say thank you and be on your way".

So much for the ignore list?
 
Some of those innocent civilians were definitely bad guys. The whole point of this war is we are fighting them over there rather than over here. People don't seem to get that. War has changed. The bad guys use civilians as sheilds, don't wear uniforms, emerge from ordinary homes to kill us and melt back into the hoi polloi. This causes the news to say civilians were killed when in actuality it was the bad guys wearing civilian clothes.
 
It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army


I'm not Army (Air Force actually), but the point is made...
 
Great Discussion

Thomas Jefferson said:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"

Like it or not, our country needs the "Rez's" of the world.

I'll chime in with my .02 on some of Rez's thoughts:

1. On 9/11 our civilians were killed, now years later Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraqi civilians are being killed, is that okay? I think we would all agree that, no it isn't okay. Not one of us wants to kill a father or a mother or a son or a daughter. Do we do everything in our power to ensure the use of lethal force is justified, yes I think we do. I would like to believe that when a UAV operator releases a weapon, he is taking as much care to ensure the protection of the lives of the innocent on the ground as if he were over anywhere, USA releasing the weapon. Do civilians end up as casualties to bad bombs, bad intel, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, yes and we don't high five each other when it happens.

2. Rez has gone on about how we have killed innocent civilians and is it "justified"? He even used the example about terrorists killing his family and calling it justified. Maybe there is confusion between civilian deaths as a result of our prosecution of the war and GI's on the ground plinking civilians. I would bet that the ROE don't allow the plinking of civilians. But I think, under the guise of legal warfare, that civilian casualties aren't wanted, sought after, desired, but a result of what our leaders have authorized us as soldiers to do. Is it justified, yes it is. Is walking into your home and killing your family justified, no it isn't and that isn't what we are doing either.

3. When does it all end? Good question. I don't think we, as a nation encourage war. You may disagree based on our foreign policy, world attitude, yada yada. But it kinda sucked for the Kuwaitis when they were invaded by Iraq. We were there to liberate them. Kinda sucked for some airline passengers, building workers, and american citizens about 10 years ago. Now we are attempting to ensure when your wife and family go visit grandma, they have a safe, free country to do it in. Some in this country haven't, and the men and women on this board are doing it to protect your wife and kids, and I speak for all of us saying that we'd be willing to die for the freedom of your wife and kids to go see grandma, on a plane, and not worry about being blown up. When will it end, good one, go ask UBL.

4. Killing civilians creates more terrorists. Truthfully, maybe it does, but as mentioned above, we don't want to kill civilians as much as we don't want to have to be at war with Al Qaeda and Taliban. We can't control that. I think our attempt is to help those children come to the realization that being a terrorist won't bring them as much happiness in their life as being regular joe citizen.

5. Iraq war was a sham. No it wasn't. Your elected leaders acted on the information they had. Your elected leaders decided with a majority vote to invade Iraq and look for WMDs. We didn't find any and for some reason that absence has allowed people like you to opine that the war and invasion was a sham. For some strange reason, people like Rez seem to think us GIs are so blood thirsty we just couldn't wait to start the killing machine. The lady in my neighborhood, yeah that one, with the dog and 4 year old son, who lost their husband/dad during the war, they don't have "kill an Iraqi for mommy" tattoos. This war cost us, the American people, significantly. Is/was the war a sham, no it never was. Did we find WMDs? No, unfortunately, but you can't use your "I'm a lot smarter than the rest of you" attitude combined with the 9 years of post 9/11 info and stand on your alter of it was a sham.

6. Leaders in DC. Don't get me started either. But we live here, we vote for them, if you don't like it, move to Iraq, they're setting up a new government, go help them.

Peace.
 

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