Only the US would use a $10B aircraft carrier to launch a $100M aircraft to drop a $100K bomb on a kid hiding in a hole with a $100 AK-47.
"Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it’s fired by a guy who doesn’t make that in a year at a guy who doesn’t make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.”
As Kipling put it the last time we were in that part of the world. The Western militarys spend the $80,000 because whilst the soldier firing it may not make $80,000 in a year the cost to recruit and train, as well as the future economic worth of the citizen, is far greater.
and this is why US lose so few servicemen lives while killing tens of thousands of those "kids". Sending in troops with M-16, Vietnam style, without support of those $100M aircraft launched from those $10B carriers would result in comparable, on the scale of thousands, losses of those troops. Speaking pure economically, morals/politics aside, a cost of 1 life used for various calculations in US by government, insurance, etc. is about $7M, thus 1 thousand lives comes to $7B - very well comparable with the cost of campaign where $100K/100M/10B military tech is used instead of wasting servicemen lives. Wasting money instead of human lives - not a bad choice. For example, in Russia (where i'm originally from) they usually do it the other way and it isn't a good thing.
like when that guy simultaneously attacked the world power of Britain despite being under sanctions
they left our men to perish without fire
support because of your rules of engagement
I don’t retreat one iota from what I said there.
McChrystal, with his ROE, is a murderer
http://www.captainsjournal.com/category/general-mcchrystal/
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2011/02/17/reprimands-in-mari...