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Those Savages At The CIA
   Next Article → WARPLANES: U.S. Army Does The Million
June 1, 2010: The UN recently released a report recommending that American UAVs in Pakistan be under military, not CIA control. The UN believes that this would reduce civilian casualties, because U.S. UAVs controlled by the military usually have a lawyer standing by, who evaluates targets below, and vetoes the hit if it is believed it is somehow illegal (or there is too great a chance that civilians might be hurt). This is the main reason why the CIA controls the UAVs in Pakistan. With a lawyer in the loop, many HVTs (High Value Targets) get away. Not because the lawyer vetoes the strike, but because of the time it takes for the strike to be discussed, and sometimes headedly debated, delays the firing of the missile. Frequently, by the time the order to proceed is given, the target is gone.

The Pakistanis also prefer the CIA to control the UAVs, partly because this enables them to tell everyone that there are no American military forces in Pakistan. But mostly, the Pakistanis prefer to keep the American lawyers out of it, and get on with killing the terrorist leaders, and their followers, who are killing so many Pakistanis. War is hell, and bringing lawyers in is a response to political and media, not military, needs.

Next Article → WARPLANES: U.S. Army Does The Million
  

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Paul_In_Houston       6/1/2010 11:29:19 AM
War is hell, and bringing lawyers in is a response to political and media, not military, needs.
 
Richard III appears to have figured it out, centuries ago ("First, you..." :-)
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WarNerd       6/1/2010 11:44:14 AM
No matter how bad the situation is, you can always count on UN to intervene and make it worse.
 
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Dave_in_Pa       6/1/2010 12:38:50 PM
"War is hell, and bringing lawyers in is a response to political and media, not military, needs."
 
IMO, lawyers have NO ****ing place in the operational chain of command. They This is allowing lawyers, who have neither training nor experience in any of the combat arms to make high level combat decisions, rather than by trained, experienced combat arms line officers
 
"With a lawyer in the loop, many HVTs (High Value Targets) get away".
 
Well, ain't that a surprise. /sarc  Probably the first of these was Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, back during the liberatlon. I don't recall if it was to be done by an early armed UAV or a manned jet. However, nothing could be done until the lawyer had signed off.  After this legal genius had finished his legal navel gazing and gave his OK, it was too late. Mullah Omar had gone to ground. A fleeting, golden opportunity to kill the head of the Taliban thrown away by having a lawyer making an operational combat decision. Insanity!
 
 
 
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James H.    Think things over   6/1/2010 3:40:19 PM
Right.  When it comes to blowing things up, it would never do to have an adult in the room to think about it.
 
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Photon       6/2/2010 9:47:24 PM
Cannot wage wars effectively unless there are three separate warfighting entities in place and are allowed to do their thingies::
 
1.  The regulars who do the most fighting and officially authorized to carry out the will of the sovereign and thus 'official wartime representatives' of the sovereign.
 
2.  Smaller, un-official group who deal with 'wet jobs' whose playbook include assassination, interrogation & torture, extortion, bribery, espionage, sabotage, and, some other things that could cause immediate chill to anyone's spine.
 
3.  An independent security organization that keeps #1 and #2 in line, primarily dealing with controlling information, especially keeping #1 and #2 from blabbering outside official channels.  At the same time, shielding #1 and #2 from politicians and mass media as much as possible.  Of course, propaganda and the rest of information warfare are also handled by #3.
 
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