The Obama
administration is amending its regulations for weapons sales to allow the
export of armed military drones to responsible, “friendly nations and
allies.” Truth is: we will always sell
any weapon to any nation that has the money.
We are in the arms business. Olin
Industries (Winchester) sold cartridges to the Italian army when we were at war
with them in the 40s. We sold and
supplied arms to a terrorist rebel force in Afghanistan, who were attacking
Russian troops. We cared not how they
treated women or that they believed in Sharia Law. Bin Laden was a hero then. Today that “friend” is called the Taliban or
al-Qaeda. My point is, “friendly nations
and allies” change with time. Japan and
Germany are another good example of the principle of enemies in time. Iraq was a friendly nation, until they
frightened the Saudis. Our government
takes orders from oil rich Saudi Arabia. Please try not to mix moral values or the
common good with the business of arms sales or our oil industry’s needs.
How does our
nation responsibly use drones? We bomb
in nations that we aren’t actually at war with, such as Pakistan. We bomb the homes of “suspected” terrorists. To hell with collateral damage. Criminal justice and international law are
not really an issue. We will sell these
military drones to other nations along with a set of rules for their
usage. Rules that we ourselves do not
adhere to. When another country has
purchased drones from us, as the rightful owner, they will determine how and
when the drones are used.
Drones are
not a bad thing. When I was growing up
in the 40s and 50s, they were called RC (radio controlled) model
airplanes. The nerd next door had one
and I would go to watch him fly it. The
nerds of today have cell phones, as do the rest of the humanoids. The German Luftwaffe had a different use for
RC airplanes at the time; they used them as winged bombs, for targeting Allied
ships. Radio Control has been with us
for some time. Nikola “Tesla” (a brand
name on some rich folk’s cars) demonstrated a remote control boat in 1898. In a
better day, during the 1930’s, the Good brothers, Bill and Walt, pioneered RC
models for hobby use. I guess you could
conclude that Good intentions are often put to destructive use. Drones will be used for killing in future
wars, by all nations, whether we export them today or not. We will simply make a buck and save our
present friends some R&D expenditure.
So, “Let the Good times roll.”
Comments are
welcome, Old Buz
Comments are welcome.
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