>>This could bite the US on the bum one day. There are some clever people in some of the so called terrorist countries and it will not be beyond their capabilities to copy and perhaps improve on the US drone technology.<<

>>And China, India, et al do not have lots money let alone a LOT of intelligence?
How long before China has a drone system up and running?
India has a lot of computer expertise.<<

China? Where does China come in to it? I thought we were discussing the possibility of Islamic terrorists obtaining drone technology. What do Islamic terrorists have to do with the Chinese military? Looks like somebody is trying to shift the goalposts halfway through the game: naughty, naughty.

Let me rephrase some of my earlier post:

>>But the thing about arms races is that it is usually the people with the most money who win. And the US has good form when it comes to arms races. They're definitely the favourite and in a non-handicapped race between the US and terrorists the US are the ones I'd back.<<

An arms race between China and the US is a whole different story. Of course China are going to have much shorter odds than a bunch of terrorists. But that's not really relevant here is it? The article made no mention of drone strikes on Chinese nationals or within Chinese territory. I don't think it's very likely that the Chinese will start launching drone strikes on the US or its allies as reprisals for attacks that haven't happened. That would be silly.

Cheers,

Tony

Jayb,

Terrorism?

You should brush up on a little history yourself - starting with this:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

Interesting exposé of the Iraq/Iran war Poirot. I figured it out back in the 80's. If these two wanted to destroy one another we should help. I guess Iraq was seen as the lesser of two evils at that time. It also probably explains why the Yanks were worried about CW in the Gulf War. We must also take into account that this was 80's & the Cold War was still in full swing. But this has nothing to do with the present terrorism. It was after that all settled down that the problem with people fleeing Iraq started. Saddam didn't trust a number of different peoples within his own country, of which there are at least five different groups as well as a number of different Islamic Sects, which all hate one another. Saddams persecution of these groups caused great numbers of peoples to flee the country.

Of course you have to hate yanks, that's a given. Everybody does. Tall poppy Syndrome. Even I think most yanks are rather bombastically stupid. Muslims see the yanks as the epitome of Christian Evil. They hate anyone that's not Muslim so it's easy to hate yanks. Therefore they bomb them & become terrorists. Life simple when you break it down to its fundamentals. That's Fundamentalist Muslims verses Fundamentalist Christians. Both of them are evil.

But I do believe the subject is supposed to be about, "Is using Drones to eliminate your enemy legal?" Well my view is that it is.

Jayb,

I agree that we should get back to the subject, although when discussing the Middle-East one thing tends to lead to another.

Btw,I don't hate yanks - I have one for a son-in-law.
When a superpower exercises its clout, it invariably uses that power to suit its own ends. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be misled by altruistic rhetoric that seeks to camouflage the true nature of self-serving actions.

Poirot:
1. Btw,I don't hate yanks - I have one for a son-in-law.

2. When a superpower exercises its clout, it invariably uses that power to suit its own ends. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be misled by altruistic rhetoric that seeks to camouflage the true nature of self-serving actions.

1. Nah. I don't really hate yanks either. I was attached to the 173d Airborne in Vietnam. I met a lot of good ones, but I met a lot of overly nationalistic dills to & they do seem to get them in their Government.

2. agreed.

Drones are great, they rebalence the assymetry or Islomo terror techniques. It is humane as not even theirr troops are particularly targeted, rather its entire leadership are, their Generals in the front line! We should encourage it more as a brand of fighting smarter not harder.