SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
When he was in office, former President Barack Obama earned the ire of anti-war activists for his expansion of Bush's drone wars. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning head of state ordered ten times more drone strikes than the previous president, and estimates late in Obama's presidency showed 49 out of 50 victims were civilians. In 2015, it was reported that up to 90% of drone casualties were not the intended targets.
Current President Donald Trump campaigned on a less interventionist foreign policy, claiming to be opposed to nation-building and misguided invasions. But less than two months into his presidency, Trump has expanded the drone strikes that plagued Obama's "peaceful" presidency.
"During President Obama's two terms in office, he approved 542 such targeted strikes in 2,920 days—one every 5.4 days. From his inauguration through today, President Trump had approved at least 36 drone strikes or raids in 45 days—one every 1.25 days."
That's an increase of 432 [sic] percent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @06:54PM (1 child)
Not that I have any ethical issue with the current situation, but sniper drones are way more affordable.
A gun the size of an M-16 mounted like the cannons on the AC-130 would be great. It could even be buried in the wing for aerodynamics.
If we got it down to a 3-foot wingspan, it could be dirt cheap. We could have swarms of them that automatically shoot anything that moves. This could be as effective as carpet bombing and nukes, but way more environmentally friendly. We could obliterate whole countries this way.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 21 2017, @02:43AM
I like your idea, but you'll never sell it to the military industrial complex. Everyone involved insists on having big booms and flashes, high body counts, and tons of money flowing. Killing one person, dirt cheap, in an unnoticeable way, is anathema to their way of business.