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0 pointsalan_cx12y ago0 comments

Well, at least they got and only got the target. Drone strikes seem to regularly take out many innocents. Or are no A-Rabs innocent?

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GabrielF0012y ago

Seriously? Are you completely unfamiliar with the conflict in Chechnya and the surrounding regions?

From Wikipedia's article on the Second Chechen War: > According to the 2001 annual report by Amnesty International:

>> There were frequent reports that Russian forces indiscriminately bombed and shelled civilian areas. Chechen civilians, including medical personnel, continued to be the target of military attacks by Russian forces. Hundreds of Chechen civilians and prisoners of war were extra judicially executed. Journalists and independent monitors continued to be refused access to Chechnya.

alan_cxOP12y ago

A personal friend of mine, Darren Hickey, was kidnapped by Chechen rebels. As a result of a bungled Chechen attempt to rescue him and his 3 fellow captives, he was beheaded by a road side.

Have a read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/230215.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1215350.stm

So, yeah, I am fairly familiar with it.

And let me tell you, you are not even slightly comparing the same things.

ivan_gammel12y ago

This is not precise comparison. The Russian military actions in Chechnya are quite similiar to the ISAF actions in Afghanistan, including bombings of civilians and refusals for journalists (http://www.stripes.com/news/files-prove-pentagon-is-profilin...) This is the face of modern warfare, not security operations.

Better comparison to drone attacks on terrorists is killing of Dzhokhar Dudaev by laser-guided missiles in 1996 and, possibly, killing of Shamil Basayev in 2006. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzhokhar_Dudayev#Death_and_leg... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev#Death

sologoub12y ago

Note that while not as widely deployed as the US versions (most likely due to spending barriers), Russian UAVs are under active development. If/when combat ready, you better believe they'll deploy them. Probably with the same attitude as US/NATO. As sad as it might be, it's the rational thing to do - not endanger any of your citizen's lives, get the target, remain relatively untouchable... From the military's perspective, the "innocents" are collateral damage, to be minimized, but acceptable within a given range.

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