Unaccountable Killing Machines: The True Cost of U.S. Drones

[joshcryer]

13. Boots on the ground "got Bin Laden," with no lives lost.

Politicians don't like "boots on the ground" because they're damn risky (Somolia). If we did surgical, boots on the ground style strikes, we probably wouldn't make as many enemies as the current policy does, because fewer if any innocents would be killed in the process.

I personally think one reason they're not doing it is that the MIC is trying to improve the technology to the point where drones as as big as small birds and can do assassinations of people without anyone nearby being at risk of dying, and they pressure politicians not to go the "boots on the ground" route because it puts at risk their new MIC tech development programs.

Another thing is that boots on the ground requires political pressure to the sovereign states that we want to 'invade' (I do not consider a small special forces unit an invasion force, but that could just be me). It's just easier, and sloppier, to just do it from the sky with spies and others gathering information.