spectrenihlus said:
Actually firemen do fight fire with fire, not in a burning building but when their is a forest fire they will begin a fire in another area to diffuse the larger one. Drones are one of the greatest weapons ever in terms of lowest collateral damage and they keep our guys out of the fighting. War is won by being the most brutal and the most savage not in measured destruction. That is how the American Civil War was finally won it was how WW2 was won, and if they want to win this war you go in with as much force as possible not in measured attempts this measuring is why we are still in Afghanistan and Iraq today.
Only the war in Afghanistan/ Pakistan/ Iraq is nothing like the American Civil War or WW2. It is assymmetrical in nature, it's about insurgency and counterinsurgency. All out brute force is counterproductive in such situations. One of the biggest risks is antagonizing the local population, giving the Taliban/ Al Qaeda more standing and more recruitment opportunities.
While you are right about drones making less collateral damage (as opposed to say, bombardment by cruise missiles), any collateral damage is bad when one tries to "win the hearts and minds" of the people in order to erode the foundations of the insurgents. Also the insurgents could interpret the use of drones as fear of death/ lack of courage on the part of U.S. soldiers and use that as propaganda/ recruitment material.
Counterinsurgency is a slower and more political "game" (i.e. also fostering relations/ diplomacy instead of just the application of force). It is in fact very much like your example of forest fires. You don't apply fire to fire directly (this is what I meant with my original statement). You apply it on surrounding patches to contain and extinguish the large one (eroding the foundations).
I'm curious...what do you think drives the insurgents to do what they do? Because I believe it doesn't help one bit to portray your enemy as just being a bunch of irrational religious fanatics who hate for the sake of hating (and nothing else). It sure is a great way to prevent yourself from thinking too deep about it. Basically, it is a reductionism that resembles dehumanization in the sense that it "makes things easier": "you don't have to listen to the enemy or try to understand him.....you just have to kill him."