U.S. ready to unleash weapons

Washington Times ^ | 12.26.02 | Rowan Scarborough

[rs79bm]

The Army plans to quickly deploy its new Shadow 200 spy plane if the United States goes to war against Iraq. In the Persian Gulf, the Navy has America's newest attack jet

[Freebird Forever]

Hmmm...

Please explain...

Calvary - Where Jesus was put to death.

Cavalry - an army component.

[HiJinx]

Thanks. I'm aware of a few such projects, this is probably the one at...ummm...nevermind!!

[FBD]

"Smoking?
Or non-smoking..."

heh, heh! good one! I doubt they'll be smoking in the planes, but the enemy targets will be...

[FBD]

Groom Lake, isn't that in Area 51? Also where the U-2 spy plane was developed and tested, I believe.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Anyone remember what became of the F 117 and pilot that crashed in Kosovo/Bosnia

[Redcloak]

...the Shadow knows.

[PoorMuttly]

Dear Santa,
Thank you for the...oh right, mum's the word. But anyway, I thought you would appreciate it if I ordered next year's gift right away. Can Muttly have a Shadow 200 RQ-7A ? Could your elvi make it so that it could fit a cute little innocent typing dog ? Can it fire the...oops, almost spilled the beans again...the "candycanes" you so generously left under the tree on my backyard launching pa...uh...patio. BTW, I have some beautiful stag grips for your Webley. -PM

[marshmallow]

Col. Warden based his assessment on the fact that in the early hours of the war in Afghanistan, an armed Predator saw Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar escaping Kandahar. Permission to fire the Predator's Hellfire missile was delayed at U.S. Central Command. The reclusive Mullah Omar escaped

"Delayed"? What does that mean? The top brass were out to lunch? Sitting on the can? Arguing about whether or not to shoot the missile?

Technology is all well and good but the human element is still the wild card in any military conflict and parts of this article disturb me.

[Gary Boldwater]

Don't we need the latest, most expensive piece of military hardware to take out a guy on a camel or in a cave?

[hchutch]

mhking, this is how I'd put it. Apologies in advance to doug from upland (I am not as good with parodies as he is) and the original artist, Marshall Mathers.

---
C'mon folks, we goin to the beach
Grab a couple of toys and let Dubya strap you in the car seat
Oh where's Saddam? He's takin a little nap in the trunk
Oh that smell (whew!) Dubya musta runned over a skunk
Now I know what you're thinkin - it's kind of late to go swimmin
But you know your Saddam, he's one of those type of men
that do crazy things, and if he don't get his way, he'll throw a fit
Don't play with da-da's toy knife, honey, let go of it (no!)
And don't look so upset, why you actin bashful?
Don't you wanna help Dubya build a sand castle? (yeah!)
And Saddam said he wants to show how far he can float
And don't worry about that little boo-boo on his throat
It's just a little scratch - it don't hurt, he was eatin
dinner while you were sweepin and spilled ketchup on his shirt
Saddam's messy isn't he? We'll let him wash off in the water
and me and you can pway by ourselves, can't we?

See honey.. there's a place called heaven and a place called hell
A place called prison and a place called jail
And Saddam's probably on his way to all of em except one
Cause Saddam's got new weapons and a buncha missles
And you don't want weapons do ya? (Nah)
Maybe when you're old enough to understand a little better
I'll explain it to ya
But for now we'll just say Saddam was real real bad
He was bein mean to Bush and made him real real mad
But I still feel sad that I put him on time-out

Wake up sweepy head we're here, before we pway
we're gonna take Saddam for a wittle walk along the pier
Baby, don't cry honey, don't get the wrong idea
Saddam's too sweepy to hear you screamin in his ear (Saddam!)
That's why you can't get him to wake, but don't worry
Dubya made a nice bed for Saddam at the bottom of the lake
Here, you wanna help Dubya tie a rope around this rock? (yeah!)
We'll tie it to his footsie then we'll roll him off the dock
Ready now, here we go, on the count of free..
One.. two.. free.. WHEEEEEE! (whoooooshhhhh)
There goes Saddam, spwashin in the wa-ta
No more fightin wit us, no more UN bullcrap
No more nuclear labs, no more bio-war
Blow him kisses bye-bye, tell Saddam you love him (Saddam!)
Now we'll go play in the sand, build a castle and junk
But first, just help Bush with two more things out the trunk

[finnman69]

RQ-7 Shadow 200 Tactical UAV

[FBD]

I'll take the non-smoking section, PLEASE!...
pictured below; F/A-18E/F Super Hornet firing a Sidewinder.

[Scarlet_Pimpernil]

I hope this doesn't sound callous, but I hope that we're not going to show the world everything we have in the ranch.
I think you may end up disappointed, it seems to be a key part of our strategy to show what we have got.
The doctrine of projection of power(i.e. Teddy Roosevelt, Mahan doctrine, 'walk softly and carry a big stick) would imply laying our cards on the table so to speak, in the hopes that our enemy would surrender, those less committed who harbor them would abandon them for the obvious winner

What can the raghead do with this information, we can attack all the time now, all-weather, from any aircraft, all the time? Nothing but shake in their sandals and reconsider what it is they believe

[jimtorr]

In spite of what may have been said, the F117 was probably shot down by a lucky shot, when the Serbians were launching volleys of missiles.

The pilot was recovered in a dramatic escape and evasion and rescue, if I'm not confusing this guy with another. Important portions of the aircraft ended up in Russia, they had to admit. Where it went from there is anybodies guess.

[Redleg Duke]

Great...I hate "leashed weapons"! It is so inconsiderate and affects their self-esteem!

[Poohbah]

MEMO

From: SECDEF Rumsfeld
To: Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command

Subj: KEEP YOUR PEOPLE IN THE LOOP, PLEASE

1. This morning, I received a disturbing report from the 1st TFW at Langley AFB. It seems that they scrambled two F-15s to intercept an unidentified aircraft late in the evening of 12/24/02.

2. Flight leader was apparently ORDERED to go weapons-free on the target without a visual ID. Flight leader rejected this directive and closed to visual range on the target, whereupon he identified it as a miniature sleigh, propelled by eight tiny reindeer. Pilot was dressed in red fur with white trim. After radio contact was made, the pilot of the sleigh apologized for not remembering to turn on his IFF.

3. It's hard being up in front of the press every day. Having to explain why we waxed Santa on Christmas Eve would've made it a lot more difficult. Make sure your field commanders are briefed on Santa's activities next year.

Rummy

[demlosers]

Very funny.

[hchutch]

EXCELLENT "Memo from Rummy" on Post 38!!