bodidley wrote:Shikanosuke wrote: but they're essentially piloted.
I would also argue that airstrikes without ground observation, and even with ground observation are also highly indiscriminate.
Alright, well I guess we shouldn't use airpower to accomplish military goals?
By indiscriminate I mean they don't discriminate between civilians and combatants.
They don't? I've never heard of missiles being fire-willy nilly into heavily populated areas with no attempt at trying to figure out who is there and who is not.
If you can see with your own two eyes from up close, you don't really know what you're shooting at. If you're receiving fire, then you at least know where the enemy is. But even so, if you bombard a village to kill fighters inside, you're going to kill innocent people.
I haven't heard of drones being used against wholesale villages ,or used in mass. That is actually the opposite of what they're being used for.
It's usually pretty stupid to use so much firepower in operations that are essential police-type actions.
I've never heard of police taking on missions to seek and kill a target. Police actions are typically to capture and detain a subject to answer for a crime. Drones are used, per the memo if i recall, when it is determined that attempts at arresting and capturing a target is not possible.
It's makes much more sense to trap and detain people on the ground. It's not like you're expecting overwhelming forces to come and surround you while you do.
Yes, it would be nice if we could fly all over the world and swoop down and pick them up. But that is not feasible.
Which brings us to another issue with the U.S. drone campaign: one of the primary reasons drones are being used is that the U.S. doesn't have permission to operate on the ground in those countries or doesn't trust the local governments with the job. It would be outrageous to start a piloted bombing campaign without respecting national sovereignty. That being said, Pakistan used to allow the drone campaign because it had plausible deniability with its public, and who knows if it doesn't still have a secret agreement with the U.S.
Yes they are. We don't let enemies lie in territories just because of boundaries. How that relates therefore to launching a full airforce campaign, i'm not really certain.