Militant Vs. Predator

By Daniel Politi
Posted Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, at 6:45 AM ET
Courtesy Of The Slate

The Los Angeles Times leads with word that the Bush administration is sending Predator aircraft "equipped with sophisticated new surveillance systems" to target militants inside Pakistan. This new technology was apparently a key weapon in the fight against Iraqi insurgents, and now drones with this special equipment are being pulled from other areas and sent to help out in Pakistan. This is yet another example of how the Bush administration has decided to pursue more unilateral attacks in Pakistan instead of trying to cooperate with the Pakistani government.

So what's this new technology the LAT is referring to that has apparently been an important piece of equipment in the fight against insurgents in Iraq?

Well, officials asked that details not be released because it could help militants evade detection. But "the previously unacknowledged devices" permit human targets to be tracked "when they are inside buildings or otherwise hidden from Predator surveillance cameras."

Also, with this new system, remote pilots have a way to confirm where the target is located beyond just looking through the Predator's lens, which means decisions about when to strike can be made much more quickly.

"A military official familiar with the systems said they had a profound effect, both militarily and psychologically, on the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq," reports the LAT. One official said that with the new technology, insurgents often feel "like they are living with a red dot on their head" and are constantly afraid that a missile might strike.

The paper doesn't mention it (and TP, of course, has no way to know for certain), but it sure sounds like this technology the LAT is describing is at least part of the program Bob Woodward credited as the main reason behind the decrease in violence in Iraq. In The War Within, one of the few new pieces of information that Woodward put forward had to do with a secret program that apparently gave the military greater capabilities to track and kill insurgents in Iraq.

The new system described by the LAT today apparently allows suspects to be identified quickly.

"All I have to do is point the sensor at him," said a military officer, "and a missile can be off the
rail in seconds." But Predators have also been known to miss their targets, and increasing their use would likely lead to even more civilian casualties, which has already fueled resentment among many Pakistanis in the area who, often as a result of these attacks, see the United States as the enemy.