Can Drones Be Beat?

It seems to me that drones have been portrayed in the media as completely unstoppable death-robots akin to the Terminator, only better. XYCD sums things up pretty well:

After recent operations in Mali, a list of Al-Qaeda's tips to countering drones was found and published in the Telegraph. Most of the list is some variation on "Run and Hide" but there also seems to be some ideas for techniques to try and jam the signals that control the drone and even a suggestion that snipers could take out a drone, a la the newest, Bourne movie.

All told, the best tactic for drone dodging seems to be "don't be Al-Qaeda."

Lucky for me, figuring out how to beat drones is more of an intellectual exercise or though-experiment for my in-the-works action movie script than a real life-or-death dilemma.

"Anti-Muslim frenzy."

Why now? Why, ten years after 9/11, are we seeing an anti-Muslim frenzy? Koran burnings? A media circus over a community center? I could understand these things in the direct wake of 9/11. People were scared out of their minds and ready get their 5 minute hate on. But its been nine years now. There hasn't been a terrorist attack in the US since 9/11. Sure the wars are still going, but we've been in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking casualties for the same nine years.Their certainly hasn't been any new events to drive this. Things like the Danish cartoon controversy are well in the past. So why now?

My guess is the economy and the tea-baggers. Bad economics always lead to nasty movements. Bashing others is a sure-fire reaction when times are tough. The other part of this is that the tea party reaction has removed all restrain from the conservative movement in this Country. If their is one founding principal of the tea party is that there is no policy too reactionary, that one cannot go too far to the right. So an "Anti-Muslim frenzy" is perfectly consistent with a movement that is in an Anti-Obama, Anti-Liberal, Anti-Moderate Republican, Anti-What-Do-Got frenzy as well.

Daily Show Makes News

The Fox News-Terror connection.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Parent Company Trap
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I'm with team evil.

The Afghanistan Papers

A huge trove of classified documents about the war in Afghanistan has gotten out and are currently rolling Washington. Different media take different things from the docs, but I'm with the NY Times and the focus on our feckless Pakistani "Allies":

Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan have long harbored strong suspicions that Pakistan’s military spy service has guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants...

That right, they take our money and work with our enemies. Nice work if you can get it. That billion dollar would be better spent on literally anything. We could light it on fire and it would do more to protect us, rather than put it in the hands of those who help those that do us harm.

Vast and Growing

Today's must read is a special report from the Washington Post on the nation's vast and growing intelligence-industrial complex. Intelligence in this country is first and foremost an industry and there is a lot of money to be made. A lot of people make a living pumping out top secret reports. The question is, is mass-producing reports like Ford puts out cars really the way to keep America safe.

Plane Rides of Shame

Gen. Stanley McChrystal flight to the White House.

French National team's flight home.

The French flew coach. Ouch. Not sure how the general is flying.

Rules

Just to be clear, a brown guy flies a plan into a building, terrorism.

A white guy flies into a building, not terrorism.

Everytime

There are certain certainties in American Political rhetoric. No one attacks Mom. No one says they will raise taxes. And everything Democrats do on matters of national defense is called "weak" by Republicans. I'm just wondering how they will end up calling this weak. Not that I doubt that they will, I'm just wondering how.

Torture: Not Needed

Cooperation.

The “underwear bomber” has resumed cooperating with FBI counterterrorism agents and has provided “useful, current” intelligence, a law enforcement source told POLITICO on Tuesday.

Yes!

Really good piece on terrorism, fear of terrorism, and all that.

Real Life Lacks a Sense of Timing

So we did figure out that the underwear bomber needed a good hard look, just a little too late:

Reporting from Washington - U.S. border security officials learned of the alleged extremist links of the suspect in the Christmas Day jetliner bombing attempt as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials disclosed Wednesday.

In the movies, of course, the database search would have gone "ding" and the phone call would get made and the agents would rush to airport gate JUST IN TIME. This being the real world, timing was a little off. We were waiting for him in Detroit, after he lit his fuse.

They Think He's Coming Back

Matt Y flags this from the New York Times:

A half-dozen former senior Bush officials involved in counterterrorism told me before the Christmas Day incident that for the most part, they were comfortable with Obama’s policies, although they were reluctant to say so on the record. Some worried they would draw the ire of Cheney’s circle if they did.

Why would they fear Cheney? I mean, yes, he's a evil, vindictive son-of-a-bitch, but he's never going to be in power again, right? I mean, he was the most unpopular part of a disastrously unpopular Administration. He's never going to get elected to anything ever again. He will never be a position to punish people for praising Obama Administration policies, would he? He is as dead politically as we have in American. Unless...

I've been using the wrong pop culture reference to understand Cheney. What if he isn't "Darth Cheney?" What if he really is destined to return, in defiance of all logic and common sense? I mean, the only way he could come back is dark magic, right? Really dark.

Do we need to start calling him the Vice-President-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?

An Illustrated Point

This guy:



is not this guy:



Ezra Klein explains.

Well Not All Fun

Today's fun fact. There is an Islamic militant group in the Philippines called Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF.

Via TPM.

Treat Islam like Communists

Some folks just crave a witch hunt.

Oh Crap

Scariest story you will read all day:

Suicide bomber strikes suspected nuclear weapons site in Pakistan

Hunting

We are getting pretty close to "Have you now or ever been a Muslim" territory here. Of course, intelligence standards have fallen among the McCarthy Right over the years. At least McCarthy was hunting Soviet spies. Imaginary Soviet spies, but still. Interns. They are hunting Muslim interns.

Action/Reaction

After 9/11 they wouldn't let you take anything sharp onto an airline. Sure.

After the shoe bomber got caught you had to take your shoes off for inspection. Ok.

Some terrorist in Britain came up with a fairly half-baked plan to smuggle explosives hidden as household liquids. Now we restrict the size of liquids that you can take on a flight. Ummm, Really?

And now this. Which means the obvious countermeasure is...oh boy.

9/11

I say just keep moving.

Where are His Wife and Kids?

Tom Ridge has rather, um, dramatically reversed himself on the issue of playing politics with the terror alerts.