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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.
The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed Thursday that a member of Joint Task Force 2 made the record-breaking shot, killing an Islamic State insurgent during an operation in Iraq within the last month.
[...] The elite sniper was using a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.
[...] The military source said the JTF2 operation fell within the strictures of the government’s advise and assist mission.
[...] The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.
[...] The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,540 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.
Not our typical fare but the physics involved in making that shot are crazy.
Source: The Globe and Mail
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @03:34PM (5 children)
Napalm (Vietnam, Korea, Germany, France)
White-phosphorous ("mild" napalm). (Syria, Fallujah)
Radiation (Japan)
MK77 (napalm rebadged). (Iraq)
Oh yeah, which country sold chemical weapons to Saddam?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 23 2017, @05:28PM (4 children)
Irrelevant, one and all. Napalm, MK77, and WP are not chemical weapons. Radiation had no treaty banning its use.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Sabriel on Sunday June 25 2017, @02:21AM (3 children)
"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." - George Orwell, 1984.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday June 25 2017, @10:20AM (2 children)
Let's put it more simply then: fire is not poison gas and is in fact a legal weapon for warfare.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Sabriel on Monday June 26 2017, @11:45AM (1 child)
That's not what I was referring to.
1. AC claimed the US was hypocritically engaging in a continuation of Imperialist behaviour/policy, and mentioned a chapter from the book "1984".
2. You posted in support of US actions so as to prevent the use of chemical weapons on civilian population (to prevent "asshole" behaviour).
3. AC responded that the US has a history of performing such deeds, citing weapons and places used/supplied.
4. You responded that those (napalm, MK77, WP) are not chemical weapons.
5. I used a quote from "1984" to point out that any government declaring that chemical weapons are not "chemical weapons" is a sign of corruption.
6. You responded that fire is not poison gas and is a legal weapon for warfare.
Sure, "fire" is not "poison gas". It is however a lay term for the rapid exothermic oxidation of materials (i.e. a form of chemical reaction) that can produce significant quantities of poisonous and/or toxic gasses (see particularly: burning napalm, burning MK77, burning WP). So despite what those trying to cloak themselves in the semantics of the Chemical Weapons Convention would like us to ignore, something can be declared "legal" but still be the act of an "asshole".
It's this kind of wilful blindness that enables the kind of hypocritical behavior that the original AC is complaining about. And those chickens come home to roost. So whether future historians determine what the US is doing in Syria is actually on the level or not, can we at least own our past failures and learn from them, rather than continue to pretend our ideologies and processes are infallible until we're FUBAR?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday June 27 2017, @11:37AM
There is no willful blindness, slappy. Tardboy above was chicken-little-ing about "International Law". Which makes the argument about that, not about ethics. Poison gas is banned but fire and explosives are quite legal. Stop trying to change the playing field just because your side is losing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.