Communications of the ACM
WikiLeaks Reveals Everybody's Christmas List: The World Wants Drones
Defense.gov
Black Friday has passed, but the holidays are upon us and shopping days are increasingly few. Having a hard time finding the perfect gift for that tiny emirate hoping to psych out Iran or the large NATO ally looking to fight terrorism in Iraq? Fortunately for you, WikiLeaks has revealed the number-one item atop seemingly everybody’s wish list: drones.
Only a select few close American allies have the export-restricted Predator B (a.k.a. MQ-9 Reaper) armed drones, but that hasn’t stopped countries from the United Arab Emirates to Turkey from pestering & pleading with America to sell them the shiniest new toy, the WikiLeaks document show.
The United Arab Emirates, a tiny nation of 5 million already protected by a U.S. military presence in the country, has been looking to purchase only the latest and greatest military technology for a while now, outbuying Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan to become the American military’s top buyer last fiscal year. The WikiLeaks documents show that in 2007, UAE officials pressed then Air Force chief of staff General Michael Moseley and then Central Command chief General John Abizaid during official visits to sell them the armed Predator B drone as part of their shopping spree.
From Wired
View Full Article
No entries found