Former Drone Pilots Denounce 'Morally Outrageous' Program

[Bob Noel]

Anther word for "diplomacy" is business negotiation. Let's cut the chase and call it what it really is. It's all about trading good and services. Nothing more and making it about anything else is a fairy tale.

Therefore in your scenario, if the other side rejects the proposal, we go in and TAKE what we want. That's how we got in this mess in the first place.

No, Jack. I'll take door #B - the door that leads to peace. If you don't want to trade with me, then I take my ball and go home. I'll offer my good/ services to someone else who WANTS them.

Failed trade is always the backstory to war. And people die over it. And that death is permanent....FOREVER.

your fallacy is assuming that nobody fights defensively.

 

[Jaybird180]

your fallacy is assuming that nobody fights defensively.

You can't call it defense on someone else's turf.

 

[Bob Noel]

You can't call it defense on someone else's turf.

actually, you can.

 

[Dav8or]

Sending our troops out somewhere should in no way be such an easy decision to make.

And that's a big part of the problem right there. Getting into wars is super easy and there is little consequence to those living here in the US. We can go around the world killing people with all kinds of wonder weapons and other than the news, we notice nothing here in our daily lives.

So, what the hell? Why not bomb some foreign people? Why not send some guys to invade? Our lives go on as usual here and we get interesting things to watch on TV and talk about with others. What the terrorists are largely trying to do with their limited capabilities, is to bring the realities of our wars directly to the American people, here. In our towns and cities.

Getting in is easy. The president picks up the phone and in we go. In the post WWII era, getting out is the hard part.

 

[Dav8or]

You can't call it defense on someone else's turf.

Didn't you get the memo? All of the world is fair game to be blown to bits in the name of our defense if we so choose.

 

[Jaybird180]

Didn't you get the memo? All of the world is fair game to be blown to bits in the name of our defense if we so choose.

I think the memo got lost with the red stapler of the guy they sent to the basement to work.

 

[Sundancer]

And yet, this is about the most peaceful time in recent history. Just not that much brewing, comparitively. Pretty stable, all things considered. Wonder what the genesis of that could be. . .?

 

[Lindberg]

Didn't you get the memo? All of the world is fair game to be blown to bits in the name of our defense if we so choose.

Of course it is. If someone has the means and motivation to kill you, you kill him first. Only an idiot would wait for him to take the first shot. We're the good guys and they are the bad guys. This moral relativism is complete bull****. If you don't believe that this is the best country in the world, and we should do whatever it takes to defend it, no one's stopping you from heading someplace else. Plenty of countries you could live in that have no offensive military at all.

 

[redtail]

One of the most brilliant things that has been done for aviation safety over the past few decades is when they started looking at human factors. Upon discovering a pilot made a catastrophic error they started looking at why he made that error- what led him to it. They started discovering how and why highly skilled professional pilots genuinely trying to do their best could make what seemed like incredibly boneheaded errors in hindsight.

They do this because it really isn't anywhere near as important to blame someone as it is to understand why a tragedy happened so that we can prevent a future one.

This is how we should be looking at national security. Not in terms of blame or good & evil but rather cause and effect. Even if the US had in every way been the instigator and absolutely totally to blame for all terrorism(and I don't think we are) should that influence how we respond? Do we defend our homeland any less?

This is about strategy not blame. The strategy we keep using over there doesn't work. It spawns more terrorism and costs us dearly in blood and money. We've tried arming enemies of our enemies and ended up arming ISIS(among others). We've tried large boots on the ground campaigns. We've been doing bombings and special forces assaults for a long time. None of this stuff is working. We won both world wars in less time than we've been at this. Walking away is one of the few things we have never tried... let's give it a shot.

Absolutely correct! Pure madness is what it is. A deadly, repetitive cycle of stupidity.