The Death of the Smart Missile

Killed by the smart drone

Revolutionary reenactors, Ft. Mifflin, Philadelphia. November 1996.

Trump and Hegseth have given us all a huge present. In their silly war with Iran they have burned up almost all our smart missiles. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel, and refilling the barrel will take years.

I suppose we could call it Accidental Unilateral Disarmament.

And now we need to face facts. We do need to rearm. The question is how.

We have before us an open door to a modern military. This new military will be cheaper, smaller, and easier to update than the rather cumbersome and very expensive military establishment we have had.

Drones are an important part of the way forward, but there is more to it. Fortunately there is a roadmap, kindly provided for us by Ukraine.

Some of the largest corporations in the United States will do everything they can to prevent this change.

President Eisenhower warned us, in his 1961 farewell address, about the military-industrial complex. It's time to listen to him. 

_______

We would also do well to listen to the rest of his address. Here's the last paragraph:

"We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love." 

How far we have strayed from the paths of righteousness.

See also A Lesson from the Berlin Wall, A World in Ruins, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Oval Office, The Coronvirus Caravan Trundles Along.