Predator Drones

[DGFone]

[quote="Regulus"]Some models of the Predator drones did carry weapons, before they were renamed the Reapers.[/quote]

Not quite. True, the Predator was the first drone to test out firing of weapons, but that was only because there were no other drones available. When it was shown that a drone can successfully launch a missile, the Reaper was created. Now, Predators might carry defensive weapons, but if the mission specifically calls to shoot at someone, a Reaper is used.

[Regulus]

Still, they're basically the same thing, and for the purpose of this topic, I'd say it's sorta irrelevant.

[Azdgari]

[quote="Woeler"]
Wait, not risking soldiers while killing terrorists is bad...?[/quote]


[quote="wikipedia"]...391 – 780 civilians were killed out of a total of between 1,658 and 2,597 and that 160 children are reported among the deaths. The Bureau also revealed that since President Obama took office at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims and more than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners, tactics that have been condemned by legal experts."[/quote]

Even by itself, those statistics are rough (They're also among the most generous to America: many reports show significantly higher percentages, with one study claiming as many as 50 Pakistani civilians were killed for each militant in 2009). Considering the effect it has on the Pakistani people, it's only worse. The only terrorists they see are the ones dropping bombs on civilians. How is that supposed to foster peace and goodwill towards America?

The strategy doesn't do it for me. There's got to be a better way. We're just feeding the cycle.

[Woeler]

Call me when you find a moderate way to deal with Islam and Islamism. Maybe in utopia every life is sacred and worth as much as any other, but not in this world. Besides, that area holds nothing but violence, extremism and authoritarianism. A cancer to Earth, a black page in the history of peace, a morally dehumanizing piece of garbage.

There are two ways of acchieving peace in the middle east.
1. We kill terrorists effectively.
2. We carpetbomb the whole area.

Yes, civilians die, but there is no other way. And waiting for another way to come by equals giving the cancer more time to spread. The whole area is full of whacko's who are not only willing to kill Obama or Geert Wilders or Kurt Westergaard. No, they would love to kill you and me too. Almost everyone in there has been brainwashed to believe a bunch of violence-promoting, transparent delusions and lies.

Our culture isn't just different from one that sends deaththreats to cartoonists. It's better.
Not all of them are brainwashed, but most of them are and that is the problem.

[DGFone]

[quote="Regulus"]Still, they're basically the same thing, and for the purpose of this topic, I'd say it's sorta irrelevant.[/quote]

No, it's quite relevant. The domestic use of Predator drones, I can understand. After all, if NASA can use F-18s, F-15s, etc.., all combat fighters, for aeronautical research, why can't our own police and other domestic offices use surveillance drones, as long as their use is done legally? After all, isn't a drone the best thing to send into a hurricane? And perhaps we can finally send something inside a tornado by deliberately flying into it, something a human pilot will never do.

But on the other hand, if it were Reaper drones that were domestically used - drones that are specifically designed to attack and kill people, then I would be worried.

Reaper versus Predator? The two look nearly identical, but in practice, they are completely different.

[Regulus]

Well, I see what you mean, but they were designed from the same prototype.

Really, my concern with the drones has nothing to do with anything that has already been mentioned here. My concern is that they're computers. They can be programmed.

It's no secret that the American government has been hacked into by other countries. Well, actually, the government tries to pretend it's a secret, but, you know...

The problem is, all it takes is a skilled hacker, and suddenly everything we have can be used against us.

If I had to bet, I'd say WWIII won't be fought with conventional weapons at all. We're entering a new era of warfare: cyber warfare. A blackout across the United States today would cause far more destruction than a hydrogen bomb. It would send us all the way back to the dark ages (pun intended).

+9000 for civilian use of drones, though.

[Azdgari]

[quote="Woeler"]Call me when you find a moderate way to deal with Islam and Islamism. Maybe in utopia every life is sacred and worth as much as any other, but not in this world. Besides, that area holds nothing but violence, extremism and authoritarianism. A cancer to Earth, a black page in the history of peace, a morally dehumanizing piece of garbage.

There are two ways of acchieving peace in the middle east.
1. We kill terrorists effectively.
2. We carpetbomb the whole area.

Yes, civilians die, but there is no other way. And waiting for another way to come by equals giving the cancer more time to spread. The whole area is full of whacko's who are not only willing to kill Obama or Geert Wilders or Kurt Westergaard. No, they would love to kill you and me too. Almost everyone in there has been brainwashed to believe a bunch of violence-promoting, transparent delusions and lies.

Our culture isn't just different from one that sends deaththreats to cartoonists. It's better.
Not all of them are brainwashed, but most of them are and that is the problem.[/quote]
Isn't that a bit radical?


Also, could our dropping bombs on civilians maybe have something to do with their brainwashing?

[Woeler]

Tell me how to reason with people who sincerely belief that they will experience eternal joy after killing those who are not Islamic. Tell me, and I'll make sure you win the Nobel prize. This nonsense was there before we bombed them.

[Azdgari]

The majority do not believe that. The average Palestinian is more concerned with providing for their family than killing Americans, the same way the average German was not a genocidal Jew-hater. That's what radicalism is: a minority. And when the everyman is dragged into it, it's rarely ideological. When your family is starving and your local Al Qaeda cell offers you some money to fire pot shots at an American base, is that radical idealism or people doing what they need to?

You do realize the separation between Al Qaeda and the Taliban and Palestinian/Afghani civilians, correct?

[SlayerOfLight]

[quote]Also, could our dropping bombs on civilians maybe have something to do with their brainwashing?[/quote]

Actually when they aren't showing their true color, they often tend to play the victem themselves.