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US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

bloomberg.com

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Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#531

Post by quietsegfault »

pseudohadamard wrote: post #499
brandonagr2 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part of "attack enemies" implies they were targeting innocent people?

In Afghanistan, and presumably Iran as well, the US military defined all "military-aged males" (12-65 years) as "combatants". This makes children and old men killable. You could drone strike pretty much any guy you wanted and all you were doing was eliminating combatants. An addition, again from Afghanistan, only 2% of drone strikes were against identified targets. The rest were targets of opportunity. So you make mo…

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Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#532

Post by quietsegfault »

hiddencost wrote: post #383
brandonagr2 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part of "attack enemies" implies they were targeting innocent people?

US military standard for "did we kill civilians" with drone attacks is "do these appear to be combat aged males, based on satellite photos". It's monstrous.

Do you have a source showing this is actually the U.S. military’s standard, rather than a distorted reference to the Obama era casualty counting controversy?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#533

Post by thunky »

robcohen wrote: post #519
thunky wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki

> key organizer for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. Yeah, I don't see a problem here. Due process, slippery slope sure... but this was a cut and dry case. I've got better things to do with my time than be concerned with this.

Great. Just don't get upset when a politician you don't like wipes his butt with the consititution.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#534

Post by NetMageSCW »

preg_match wrote: post #527
andsoitis wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you think of a single person who has cured their mental health problem?

Really depends on how you define "cure". What most people cannot comprehend, for some very bizarre reason, is that many chronic problems do not have one-time solutions. They require chronic solutions. Take alcoholism. The "cure" for alcoholism is never drinking. You never stop being an alcoholic, you can only manage it by not drinking. Take obesity. Obesity has no "cure" either in that sense. The "cure" for obesity i…

I would caveat by saying today. Today we don’t know how to cure alcoholism or gambling, but nothing is there to say we won’t.

As for obesity, there is GLP-1 that is a likely cure and will perhaps eventually lead to an in-body cure.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#535

Post by LorenPechtel »

greedo wrote: post #285
kstrauser wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s…

Some minor quibbles... It's Offut AFB, home of StratCom. Eppely is the municipal airport. And Offut doesn't have any drone units, nor do they manage any. They due process reconnaissance for sure, but actual drone strikes aren't conducted from there. Creech AFB is where most of the drone units operating Reaper/Avenger etc are based.

It's around here. Doesn't look like much of anything, except an awful lot of fence for what looks like not much of anything. I've never seen movement. (The highest mountain in the area sticks up nearly two miles above the base and overlooks it. This time of the year most hikers will be on some part of said mountain.)

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#536

Post by exe34 »

anon7725 wrote: post #90
exe34 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's just doing his best to make everybody switch to renewables!

Blocking foreign-made solar power inverters must be part of that master plan: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-423682A1.pdf

Yes, it forces the US to depend on oil and increases the price (along with the hormuz shenanigans). This means almost every other country on earth has an incentive to push for more renewables.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#537

Post by LorenPechtel »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #323
throw488426 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel actually has the capability of targeting a single apartment in an apartment building, and has done so dozens of times in the current war against Hezbollah.

Doesn’t that make it even worse that they also choose to flatten entire buildings?

To take out just the room where the target is requires knowing what room the target is in. They usually do not have that kind of information. Hamas has been on the front lines for decades, they know about concealment.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#538

Post by LorenPechtel »

thunky wrote: post #533
robcohen wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> key organizer for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. Yeah, I don't see a problem here. Due process, slippery slope sure... but this was a cut and dry case. I've got better things to do with my time than be concerned with this.

Great. Just don't get upset when a politician you don't like wipes his butt with the consititution.

Arrest should always be the first choice. But it's not always viable, and taking up arms against the US makes them a legitimate target.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#539

Post by golem14 »

wbl wrote: post #72
Loquebantur wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of information is very real. The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps".

The US doesn't even kill foreign leaders. Our intelligence service doesn't have the skills or appetite, let alone citizens. The resulting scandal would make the Church commission look like nothing, not to mention the impact on recruitment.

Quick, someone tell Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#540

Post by golem14 »

cookiengineer wrote: post #472
golem14 wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but these articles are over a year old. this is really scratching the bottom of the barrel, no? Look, I'm not saying this isn't happening. It's just that there's really not a lot of evidence that this is rampant (and I think that's what GGP seeemed to imply). This whole thing reads a lot like hyperbole/propaganda, and it wouldn't have to.

> It's just that there's really not a lot of evidence that this is rampant Not sure what is "rampant" in your view, and what is not. There's been multiple attempts of murder, multiple linked assassinations, across multiple nation states with multiple different jurisdictions. > Yes, but these articles are over a year old. this is really scratching the bottom of the barrel, no? You asked for verifiable sources, I provi…

Look, I know you'll accuse me of being a soviet stooge and all that, and that you value your time as purple team nato guy immensely.

THis is not about whataboutism.

I'm just pointing out that if you make big claims like (emphasis mine)

"""There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. """

You really ought to provide more evidence than an recruiting attempt europol memo from 2 years ago if you want to be taken seriously. It's not on us readers to 'find good sources'.

Again, I don't dispute that Putin's Russia is behind a lot of really bad assassinations and other crimes. This interview with Bill Browder (partly about the Magnitzky act) is pretty telling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlF0ZzH6C9s

I'm saying that we should really elevate the level of our reporting. Even if it happens on the toilet, as your status message suggests.

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