CIA used 'illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones' • Hacker News Board

Re: CIA used 'illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones'

#41

Post by runjake » Mon, Sep 27, 2010, 4:35 PM UTC

krschultz wrote: post #36

rdtsc wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You know what has never once happened as a result of a Predator drone strike? A live prisoner in US custody. That makes a lot of sense. It is the optimal way of disposing of people on hidden black lists. The other upside for them -- Americans don't put their lives in danger, unless we consider driving to Langley in DC traffic every day as "danger". So they never have to deal with that PR aspect of the operation.

That is entirely irrelevent. Dropping a bomb from a plane or a UAV is basically the same thing in these wars. The enemies have no weapons capable of shooting down our fighters. Have we lost a single plane to enemy SAMs in either Iraq or Afghanistan? We've certainly lost some helicopters, but there really is no difference between an F/18 and a Predator. If anything the UAV allows for more accuracy and a better view of…

May I ask on what experience and evidence do you base all of your conclusions on? I assume you are or were a military pilot, or an analyst?

Re: CIA used 'illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones'

#42

Post by mmaro » Tue, Sep 28, 2010, 3:43 AM UTC

c00ki3s wrote: post #29

mmaro wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to remember that neither Bush nor Obama are king of the U.S. government. Our newspapers, universities, and civil servants turned on Bush because of his entry to Iraq, acting out of step with the rest of the government (which includes a lot more than people think). Anything they said to reduce Bush's power was fair game. You, like me, probably fell for it. People in the government generally don't have a…

Could you elaborate on this? Normally I don't care about politics, but this does sound interesting.

I'm pretty sure I stole that interpretation from this guy: http://moldbuggery.blogspot.com/ - I spent a while looking for the exact article, but didn't find it. Most of them are very interesting anyway. He's a fascinating character, and even if you don't like him, he refers to great primary sources. But do watch out for three of his big biases: 1) assuming everyone is as smart as he is; 2) growing up as a "Brahmin" (his neologism); 3) preferring that the U.S. solve its own problems somehow (patriotic but very difficult).

Re: CIA used 'illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones'

#43

Post by c00ki3s » Tue, Sep 28, 2010, 2:03 PM UTC

mmaro wrote: post #42

c00ki3s wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on this? Normally I don't care about politics, but this does sound interesting.

I'm pretty sure I stole that interpretation from this guy: http://moldbuggery.blogspot.com/ - I spent a while looking for the exact article, but didn't find it. Most of them are very interesting anyway. He's a fascinating character, and even if you don't like him, he refers to great primary sources. But do watch out for three of his big biases: 1) assuming everyone is as smart as he is; 2) growing up as a "Brahmin" (…

Thanks a lot, this looks very interesting. Maybe on the overkill side, but I'm kinda hooked.