Tag: Drones

  • On the Limitations of Air-Power for Counter-Insurgency/ Counter-Terror Operations

    On the Limitations of Air-Power for Counter-Insurgency/ Counter-Terror Operations

    Due to the intentionally vague language of the post-9/11 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), both the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations have been empowered to interpret their counter-terrorism mandate broadly, to include targets from the Taliban, ISIS, Boko Haram and other derivatives and affiliates of al-Qaeda—anywhere around the world and indefinitely.…

  • If Underpants Gnomes Took Over the Pentagon, Very Little Would Change

    If Underpants Gnomes Took Over the Pentagon, Very Little Would Change

    In the Comedy Central television series South Park, the boys discover a cartel of gnomes who steal people’s underwear. Over the course of the episode it’s revealed that these seizures are part of their business plan which goes:   Step 1: Collect Underpants → Step 2: ? → Step 3: Profit   The punchline, of…

  • Gen. Petraeus Must Face Justice

    Gen. Petraeus Must Face Justice

    The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have recommended felony charges against David Petraeus for giving classified information to his biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell. While not a crime in itself (because Petraeus was retired from the military at the time the scandal broke), the affair put Petraeus, then director of the Central Intelligence…

  • A Metacriticism of the U.S. Drone Program

    A Metacriticism of the U.S. Drone Program

    “Before we can talk about what is ‘effective’ we have to talk about what the goal is of using military force at all. Is it to make Americans safer? Is it to keep Afghanis, Pakistanis or Yemenis safe? What’s the goal?  The question of being ‘effective’ – if you’re asking do drones work to kill…

  • Barack Hussein Obama, Moderate Neoconservative

    Barack Hussein Obama, Moderate Neoconservative

    In early 2003, Saddam Hussein’s regional and international allies were all warning him that an American invasion was imminent. Hussein’s reply was basically, “I know Washington’s tone is getting aggressive, but they aren’t going to try to remove me. I’m the only one in the region who is really taking the fight to the terrorists…