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Google Earth and "Collateral Damage"
netbuzz writes "British news reports say insurgents are using Google Earth to pinpoint vulnerable targets within bases in Iraq. Could Google be doing more to prevent this? Should they be doing more? They certainly could explain more."
I believe the difference lies in suicide bombings, and killing anyone and everyone indescriminately.
We should cut out everyones eyes in Iraq, because the insurgents there use their eyes to target western forces. We should also cut of their hands, because the insurgents there use their hands to hold the weapons used on western forces.
Not all conservatives are stupid,
but it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
- Hume
Well, that's no surprise. All reporters in the liberal-controlled mainstream media are critical of the war. They're the reason Americans think the war is going "badly" even though we haven't lost a single engagement since the start, and we've lost less troops than in any war in history. Not to mention that it's a volunteer army and that Clinton bombed the fuck out of several places with nary a critical word from the New York Times or kooks like Cindy Sheehan.
so civilians can't be pro-war?
That's pretty much what he's saying - that unless you're prepared to go and fight yourself, and prove it by joining up and thus putting yourself in a position where you can fight, then you have no right to be pro-war and demand of others something you're not willing to do yourself.
It seems a reasonable position to me - kind of like the old "if you don't vote, you lose the right to complain about the government" line. If you won't fight, you lose the right to demand that others fight on your behalf.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
"and what stops someone from doing this in the first place?"
Guard towers, perimeter patrols, and hesco bastion walls.
"Grid references, so the enemy is using GPS guided missiles now?"
No, there's really cool thing called "math" which, when combined with those grid coordinates, can tell you the exact angle and deflection at which to aim your mortar tube in order to hit a friggin' porta-shitter at 1000 meters.
Why do civies consider themselves qualified to comment on military matters? You certainly won't see me talking about quantum physics, so why is every fucking anti-war nut an armchair tactician? Is it just that you take Djohn Karriey's comments literally, and assume that with the vast storehouse of processing power contained within your cranial housing, you MUST be better able to understand these things? Or are you just too stupid to understand how ignorant you are?
They would be largely correct. Even the Tet offensive was a horrible defeat for the North Vietnamese.
Vietnam wasn't lost in the jungles of southeast asia, it was lost right here in America. We weren't defeated by the VC or the NVA, but by the communists in our own back yard. It was their Gramscian strategy of undermining our culture and infiltrating our institutions that resulted in us first pulling our punches, and then packing up and going home. The same forces are hard at work today depicting the war in Iraq as an attempt to steal their oil, as American imperialism, as a mercenary war at the behest of Israel, or really just about anything but what it truly is: a war to protect America against an evil regime that was working hard to develop them means by which to hurt us.
What makes this conflict different from Vietnam is that we can't turn our backs and run away. Both Iraq and Vietnam are merely battlefields in much larger wars. For Vietnam that war was the cold war. With Iraq it is the war against islamic imperialism. The difference is that this war isn't only being fought overseas. Our enemies can and will hit us right here at home. Their reach and their ambitions span continents. Their desire to see us dead drives them to suicide missions. We must not only prevail in Iraq but also in the approaching war in Iran and Syria as well, and even then we will not see the end of it. I'll be old and gray before the ultimate outcome of the conflict that will come to be known as WW-III will be realized. I hope that we will be victorious over our enemies, but with the way things are doing I'm anything but sure of our victory. The greatest enemy we face is not Al Qaeda, but elements within our own nation that are working to ensure our defeat.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
All we would have to do is have a surprise nuke attack on Israel and wipe them out. The Arab world would love us. Their communist suppliers would love us. And the rest of the world are to peace loving to do anything besides protest. Then we could be assured of Google earth everywhere you want to be
Google is a multinational company. Assuming they owe any alligence to the US is a mistake. If they can profit by assisting anti-US forces, they are certainly going to do exactly that.
Also, with a significant number of their employees in the US, it is currently fashionable to assume the US is wrong, especially in areas like that around San Francisco. Therefore, it is unlikely that such employees would want to be caught assisting US forces in any way. If it gets a few soldiers killed, isn't that what they are there for? If you have trouble following this, I suggest reading some more at www.dailykos.com.
Now assuming the US could suggest to Google (or any other commercial entity) that they might foresake a few profits so some soldiers aren't killed would seem perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, this would probably raise all sorts of questions about the motives of such a request. What is the Government hiding and all of that. So, no such request - however reasonable - is going to be made.
We are in a new age and we might as well get used to it. The people want their MTV and 500 movie channels. Soldiers and war aren't part of the MTV age. We have proven to the world that the US has no stomach for anything except quick raids - a protracted conflict is always going to be a disaster. When the military and administration fully internalize this, the shape of the military will change so that only "quick raids" are possible. It is the only reasonable solution at this point.