Seems that the Predator drones that fly about over the Middle East and take videos and potshots at suspected insurgents aren't that hard to swipe video feeds from. Local hackers, using commercial software, were able to see what the drones could see.
Couldn't take over from the controllers in Langley, nor cause any damage to the drones, but being able to see what they see might be considered a tactical advantage to the guys on the ground.
Oops.
A little-known fact about these rains-death-from-the-sky craft is that that over the course of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, (and over places like Iran and Pakistan) they have nailed, according to best estimates, about five hundred people who weren't legitimate targets -- men, women, children, and not counting camels, goats ...
Apparently being tall, bearded, and robed out in the open after 911 anywhere in the Middle East or West Asia was a good way to die a fast and expensive death ...
But would there have been a difference if the pilot was actually sitting in the plane? Either way, the decision what to fire on is still based on the same view.
ReplyDeleteOver 500? I don't know. I wasn't much involved with predator work but having seen some of the incidents where the media claims "innocent victims" from air strikes I'm skeptical. I'm sure it happens but the couple of situations I have personal knowledge of don't qualify. The one in particular they were claiming a whole family killed when the US bombed a house. I saw the strike, there was no house, no family but there were secondary explosions.
ReplyDeletePilot might not be sending video home live. And if I look at my laptop and see my house on the screen, maybe I don't go outside where the camera can see me. (Or maybe I sneak out and run like hell, depending.)
ReplyDeleteKnowledge is power. If I know what your drone is looking at, I can get on the phone and call somebody. Don't go to the market today, the Great Satan is buzzing overhead.
Truth is always the first casualty of war, isn't it? I'm just offering numbers I picked up along the way. Could be fewer. Could also be more. Even the military admits there have been civilian casualties, and if you split the difference between what they claim and what the locals claim, it still comes down to a lot of folks getting hammered with expensive rockets.
ReplyDeleteFair enough Steve.
ReplyDelete