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What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People

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GadgetPlayPissedSomebodyOff
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
"alleged terrorists"

Alleged terrorists? OK, maybe they were Allah Scouts working on their IED Merit Badges, but I doubt it. For all the knee-jerk weepers and wailers, please remember, it was the Allah Scouts, or our soldiers, or Iraqi civilians. I think this was the right choice.
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92BuickLeSabre
11/06/08

@Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler: But that is seriously one of the hardest badges to get!
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Kaiser-Machead
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
Note to terrorizers:

Try going on South Bakalakadaka street next time.
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ビッグボス
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
I think everyone here needs to cry more about this.
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Kaiser-Machead
11/06/08

@ビッグボス: Sobzorz
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EBone
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
Pwned

I know we're not supposed to post that, but it seems appropriate.
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Curves
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
Its a sad world we live in. Very sad.
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dragonphyre
11/06/08

@Curves: Most sad. But unfortunately, the USA feels the need to go outside of it's borders and 'help' people who wouldn't help us--even if they were in the position to.

Freedom isin't free, and this is the cost of it.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@dragonphyre: This has NOTHING to do with freedom.
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nutbastard
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
yay killing people.

: \
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Nutchromeo
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
I think I heard a Boomer in the background just before this go "Booooooom"...

Yes, I obviously have GoW on the brain...
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soulfinger
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
They didn't have a half a second to realize what the hell hit them.

Sad that this is necessary but perhaps if they handed free videos of this around Iraq, they would think twice about doing this crap.
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hanspecans
11/06/08

@soulfinger:

maybe if there weren't american soldiers illegally invading and controlling a foreign country FOR NO REASON people wouldn't feel the need to fight them.

would you be happy about some other country's soldiers coming into your town with tanks and controlling you and your daily life for years on end?
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jdhuck
11/06/08

@hanspecans: If I were liberated from a murderous dictator? Yes.
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CJCS
11/06/08

@hanspecans: You must be joking. No reason? We thought they had weapons of mass destruction! WMD's in the hands of Saddam Hussein is a very bad situation for everyone, and we did what we thought was right at the time.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@jdhuck: "If I were liberated from a murderous dictator? Yes."

Except that's simply NOT how the Iraqis feel. The reality is that most think life was better under Saddam.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@CJCS: "We thought they had weapons of mass destruction!"

Ah-hem...YOU thought they did. I didn't buy that shit for one second.
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Smurfette's dropkick
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: Thought is the wrong word. At one point, Saddam DID have WMDs. What happened to them, who knows, they might STILL be there somewhere hidden away. And right now, even though there IS a democracy set up, its pretty crappy and would fall in on itself if we left. And since thats almost priority #1 for the new socialis-erm... President-elect, it makes everything we did, almost pointless at this point. Once the Gov collapses after we leave, how hard is it for another ruthless warlord to step back up where Saddam left?
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: So the documentation of Saddam Hussein using illegal chemical weapons on thousands of Shi'a and Kurds doesn't count as WMDs?
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@p3713: Tell me of just ONE WMD that Saddam supposedly had that could reach the USA. Just one.

By the way, the new prez did win in a landslide. McCain barely had half of what he needed to win, because the American people didn't want to vote for "teh stooopid"

Can you imagine if McCain had won, died and then Palin was our Commander in Chief?
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: False. We were sold on the "mushroom cloud" crap that Bush, Cheney and Condi were trying to scare the American people with. We were being told lies about how Saddam was connected to 9/11 and that he might nuke us. Obviously, genocide against your own people is horrific, but my point is quite clear: Saddam was not a threat to the USA. Only once we f@cked that place up did we start having terrorism there. That is the absurd part: That this "spreading of Democracy" has only spread more hate and war. Why? Because it's not about Democracy, it's about securing resources.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: We could always look at the popular vote statistics which had Obama at 52% and McCain at 45%. A clear win, but no landslide.

The electoral college works in funny ways in relation to the popular vote, sometimes. Such as in 2000 when Gore had the popular vote, but lost the college. I'm so glad I wasn't in the country that year.
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Scott.Gardeski
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal:

you're joking right? most iraqis love us there... I have two friends, a marine and a ranger, over there right now, and whenever they come back, they tell stories of how appreciated their presence was. I believe the soldiers before i believe you...
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: Your Gore "electoral loss" = The Supreme Court halting a recount and handing the electoral win to Bush.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@Scott.Gardeski: " I believe the soldiers before i believe you..."

I'll believe you once the Iraqis stop trying to shoot or blow up your friends.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: Of course they halted, after a few recounts all coming to the same conclusion, it was time to stop counting. The electoral college votes gave Bush the presidency. The SC just stopped the counting because it was getting ridiculous. I believe what they did was what most would refer to as "their jobs". If the counting was halted and resulted in Gore being president, would you have had a problem with it? He was the one insisting on the recounts.

Wow, how did I let you bait me into going down this road...?
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: "Wow, how did I let you bait me into going down this road...?"

Muhahahaha!!! Just kidding.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
OK, I have some questions. What are those thing going in and out of frame? Predators fly high, so what debris would be in the air. I don't think this was taken from a predator, or at least the predator that shot the missile, as the missile comes from out of frame down and from the left.
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Toshie
11/06/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: I think it was from when the Predator launched the missile (explosive bolt bits?).
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

@Toshie: But then wouldn't the missile come in from the bottom of the frame instead of the top? B/c, IIRC, they fire off rails, so you should see it enter the frame of the camera, then track the laser in. This seems to have come from above and behind the people, instead of the front where this camera was. I almost want to say this is a helicopter taking the photo, as it jumps around. I could swear after watching Capt. Mack Hyperbole on Future Weapons, that the cams on the predator are very stabilized.
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TOWken
11/06/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: The camera on the Predator can spin to track targets while the UAV is in flight, the debris you see is from the missle launching from the UAV, and the camera stays fixed on the target as the Predator continues to fly on from the point where it fired the missle, the Hellfire missle is a fire and forget weapon so you don't have to keep the nose of the aircraft pointed towards the target.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

@TOWken: I understand that. But a Hellfire travels at around ~15 miles a minute. A Predator travels at about 2 miles a minute. I don't see how it launched a missile head on, overflew the target, and was as far away as it was when the missile hit. True, I don't know everything about a hellfire, so it maybe you can fire it away from a target, and it will pull a 180 to go to it. My guess is they use them to designate the target, and have a Apache or something fire the missile, as it's easier to re-arm an Apache vs. a Predator which only carries two hellfires. Plus, the Apache can go in low and close to survey the damage, unlike the Predator. I'm just sayin.
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TOWken
11/06/08

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Marine Corps Cobra pilots have HUD attached to their helmets that act as targeting systems (normally for TOW missles since they required sight guidance until impact) and I think these are used to mark targets which would allow for firing away from the target and having the missle come about. Who knows though, that is an odd angle.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

@TOWken: If they were facing the target, wouldn't it head for them? I'd be super paranoid if I had a designator on my helmet for a stray missile. Talk about removing someones hat.
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djkibblesnbits
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
Wow. I wasn't expecting that big "Ka-BOOM"

How can you tell from this grainy video that these dudes were creating IUD's? They just looked like they were walking through some grass to me. Hell, one guy was even flailing his arms as he was walking, as if he didn't even have a care in the world!
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

@djkibblesnbits: By the looks of it, they identified the targets on the ground, and either had the vehicle taking the video designate the target, the vehicle that launched the weapon designate the target, or possibly the ground based unit do it.
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winshape
11/06/08

@djkibblesnbits: They probably edited out the prior 30 minutes of vague white blurry shapes huddling next to the road and diving into the bushes every time a car goes by.

I'm not saying that we haven't made some horrific mistakes with innocent bystanders, but the current Rules of Engagement are so crazy tight, that the chain of proof would have to be significant in order to carry out a strike like that.
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vqro
11/06/08

@winshape: Uh huh. That's why the civilian casualties exceed 1 million.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@vqro: You do realize that the civilian casualty statistics come predominantly from deaths due to suicide bombing and IEDs, right? The idiots fighting their jihad are the ones killing the civilians in record numbers.
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vqro
11/06/08

@closhedbb: You do realize that suicide bombings and IEDs would not be so commonplace if we weren't there, right? Why are we there again? Oh yes, to liberate. Their oil that is.
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Anonymoose
11/06/08

@vqro: riiiiight. this war is as much wmd driven as it is oil driven.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
11/06/08

@Anonymoose: How much of the oil we use comes from Iraq? I'd really like to know the amount, I'm not being sarcastic.
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Nemesisesq Got Banned
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
I wish things like this weren't necessary...
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whootowl
11/06/08

@Nemesisesq: If the Americans were not occupying their country...
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Anonymoose
11/06/08

@Nemesisesq: sure. to reach that point, all we need to do is assimilate everyone to the same culture/mode of thinking/religious belief, etc. and how are we going to get there? oh yeah, through warfare and bloodshed.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@whootowl: I doubt any of the guys killed in this are Iraqi's. Almost all of the "insurgents" killing US troops in Iraq come from other countries for the express purpose of being able to kill Americans.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: "Almost all of the "insurgents" killing US troops in Iraq come from other countries for the express purpose of being able to kill Americans."

Prove it.
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92BuickLeSabre
11/06/08

@Anonymoose: So people can't have different beliefs without killing each other?

My, that's a depressing thought.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: Prove it? On a blog comments section? Right. The end all of internet arguments.

Hey, I'm just going off of personal experience in the air and on the ground. I've had very frank conversations with friends who have had face to face interactions with these types. A scant few are Iraqis, but a lot of them are Iranians, Saudis, Syrians, etc. Hell, they even get some irate Yemenis and Egyptians from time to time.

Personal experience and those of my friends who had more face-to-face encounters than I did is proof enough for me. As far as proving it to you, this medium doesn't lend much to that, no does your frame of mind.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: When I say "prove it", it means, cough up some links, nothing more.
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closhedbb
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: Fine.

[archive.newsmax.com]

[en.wikipedia.org] - You'll notice Iraq isn't even on Wiki's list, which comes from the LA Times.

[www.aeaweb.org]

I can get more if you want.
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@closhedbb: Thanks for the links. Although the first one is a pretty biased website, the numbers are adding up.

Regarding the recount: It is NOT the job of the Supreme Court to override a fair election. Yes, if the count was halted and Gore was president, I'd still be as pissed about it. It's not just the recount being stopped...there's a HUGE laundry list of voter fraud perpetrated by the GOP. I trust you can look it up, because if I were to post it here it would be the biggest wall of text these comments has ever seen.
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That's What She Said
11/06/08

@johnnyabnormal: Hope you include a list of all of the things your liberal buddies at ACORN are doing to disrupt our democracy while you are at it Johnny Boy. This will be very difficult for you though since there are only a few sources to find this information. You may have to go to some websites that provide ALL the information instead of the Daily Kooks!
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johnnyabnormal
11/06/08

@Siouxperman: My "buddies" at ACORN? Wow, whatever helps you sleep at night, man. You guys lost fair and square. Mickey Mouse didn't show up to vote, in case you didn't notice. But hey, it's never too early to slap that Palin 2012 bumper sticker on your car.
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fernando_maciel
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
Even if those are bad guys, I feel sorry for then... I have never seen something like that before and find it astounishing that it was so realistic depicted in Call Of Duty 4
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Anonymoose
11/06/08

@fernando_maciel: why? if they are planting explosives that have the capability of causing much more painful, protracted deaths than the one caused by the predator, i'd say they got off easy. do you feel sorry for all soldiers who die, regardless what side they're on? or do you only feel sorry when it's placed in your face?
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92BuickLeSabre
11/06/08

@Anonymoose: Can't speak for Fernando, but I do feel bad when anyone dies.

I do think about the counts of soldiers and civilians that die in wars, even one's that don't involve the U.S.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not sitting here all emo writing angst-filled poetry and crying "WHY???" to the heavens, but nonetheless, I do believe it is why they refer to people like me as "bleeding hearts."
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zebek
11/06/08

In reply to What it Looks Like When a Predator Drone Vaporizes People
If we laugh and make jokes and celebrate this sort of thing, then we are no better than the terrorists.
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Jesus Diaz
11/06/08

@zebek: The article isn't making fun of killing these people. Where do you get that? In any case, it takes an ironic look on the stressed pilots firing missiles from an office.
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