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He's saying that so it looks less like there's any collusion between him and Russia. That's why we conducted the effectless and strategically irrelevant bombing of Syria, why Russia protested it and rattled their saber, and why Tillerson is over there having a "bad" and "confrontational" meeting with the Russians/Putin.

 

This is all theater. It's likely also prelude to Trump announcing that, in order to try and make relations between America & Russia better, he's negotiated easing the sanctions on Russia. Maybe in exchange for their cooperation in ousting Assad.

No....Trump said today that the meeting Tillerson had with Russia went way better than expected. It went greatly.

 

So....you need to get your facts right....

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Most of our munitions are in the 500-lb to 4000-lb range. This one's 21*k*-lb because f--- yeah America, that's why.


Reasons for smaller munitions tend to be they can be carried by our combat aircraft. Further, our guided bombs are all of that size. Guided munitions are useful for targeted strikes as opposed to indiscriminate carpet bombing. They also don't cost $314M a pop.


This weapon was previously never deployed due to the possibility of civilian casualties. It's a wide-area soft, dumb, soft-target weapon. This is the first use. It appears to me to be symbolic more than anything in response to a Green Beret's combat death -- particularly as it required flying a cargo noncombat plane over the area and kicking the bomb out the bay door.


Let's not blow a wad over our military, guys. Especially when it's unclear what was accomplished here. Dick-swinging is the foreign policy of the Kims of North Korea. It doesn't befit the greatest nation on the planet.

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Most of our munitions are in the 500-lb to 4000-lb range. This one's 21*k*-lb because f--- yeah America, that's why.
Reasons for smaller munitions tend to be they can be carried by our combat aircraft. Further, our guided bombs are all of that size. Guided munitions are useful for targeted strikes as opposed to indiscriminate carpet bombing. They also don't cost $314M a pop.
This weapon was previously never deployed due to the possibility of civilian casualties. It's a wide-area soft, dumb, soft-target weapon. This is the first use. It appears to me to be symbolic more than anything in response to a Green Beret's combat death -- particularly as it required flying a cargo noncombat plane over the area and kicking the bomb out the bay door.
Let's not blow a wad over our military, guys. Especially when it's unclear what was accomplished here. Dick-swinging is the foreign policy of the Kims of North Korea. It doesn't befit the greatest nation on the planet.

 

Who is doing that?

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Most of our munitions are in the 500-lb to 4000-lb range. This one's 21*k*-lb because f--- yeah America, that's why.

 

Reasons for smaller munitions tend to be they can be carried by our combat aircraft. Further, our guided bombs are all of that size. Guided munitions are useful for targeted strikes as opposed to indiscriminate carpet bombing. They also don't cost $314M a pop.

 

This weapon was previously never deployed due to the possibility of civilian casualties. It's a wide-area soft, dumb, soft-target weapon. This is the first use. It appears to me to be symbolic more than anything in response to a Green Beret's combat death -- particularly as it required flying a cargo noncombat plane over the area and kicking the bomb out the bay door.

 

Let's not blow a wad over our military, guys. Especially when it's unclear what was accomplished here. Dick-swinging is the foreign policy of the Kims of North Korea. It doesn't befit the greatest nation on the planet.

 

One square mile of destruction seems like a dick swing to me. And the message it sends is pretty clear.

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Oh my god, one square mile of destruction!

 

We blew s--- up, you guys.

 

Who is doing that?

 

Not directed at you, to be clear. The reaction to this and the fawning media coverage is what I worry about. I mean, I fall for a lot of military glorification stuff, personally, but this isn't even hella cool tech enables U.S. to launch devastating surgical strikes. It's "we dropped a dumb bomb, but a really big one because it's 10 times heavier than our normal dumb bombs."

 

We have always had and demonstrated the ability to bomb at will. Amping up the tonnage on a (probably) one-off demonstration is clearly pulling out the ruler. The only argument to be had is whether there was value in doing so. Some people think so. I disagree strongly.

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Oh my god, one square mile of destruction!

 

We blew s--- up, you guys.

 

Who is doing that?

 

Not directed at you, to be clear. The reaction to this and the fawning media coverage is what I worry about. I mean, I fall for a lot of military glorification stuff, personally, but this isn't even hella cool tech enables U.S. to launch devastating surgical strikes. It's "we dropped a dumb bomb, but a really big one because it's 10 times heavier than our normal dumb bombs."

 

We have always had and demonstrated the ability to bomb at will. Amping up the tonnage on a (probably) one-off demonstration is clearly pulling out the ruler. The only argument to be had is whether there was value in doing so. Some people think so. I disagree strongly.

I guess I don't see those comments here.

 

I guess I'm going to hold off either being impressed or condescending to the military until I know more about the strike.

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Oh my god, one square mile of destruction!

 

We blew s--- up, you guys.

 

Who is doing that?

 

Not directed at you, to be clear. The reaction to this and the fawning media coverage is what I worry about. I mean, I fall for a lot of military glorification stuff, personally, but this isn't even hella cool tech enables U.S. to launch devastating surgical strikes. It's "we dropped a dumb bomb, but a really big one because it's 10 times heavier than our normal dumb bombs."

 

We have always had and demonstrated the ability to bomb at will. Amping up the tonnage on a (probably) one-off demonstration is clearly pulling out the ruler. The only argument to be had is whether there was value in doing so. Some people think so. I disagree strongly.

It's GPS guided...so technically not a "dumb bomb".

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This isn't to be condescending to the military so much as striving for an accurate interpretation. Perhaps I'm being unfair to the media, but the mainstream coverage about this is breathless in its fawning over the size of this bomb. This is me holding that to account. (Coverage can be critiqued for its flaws without considering them fake news, and this is an example. I expect there'll be some op eds lining up with my line of thinking here, and I'll be curious to read them when they come out. Or maybe not!)

 

We have many tools with which to bomb the heck out of ISIS, and we've been using them for years. A cargo plane carrying a giant gimmick bomb is novel and its purpose is clearly in demonstration and not in destruction.

 

Thus, it's to my eyes clearly a show. Whether a useful show or not we can certainly debate. I don't think ISIS is intimidated by US firepower. Maybe it pumps up US military (and civilian) morale. There's value in that -- and also danger.

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