Using drones: principles, tactics and results (amended title)

[davidbfpo]

JMM has added several posts on the separate thread that watches HVT policy under Obama:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...t=13239&page=7

Hat tip to Abu M for the comments by 'Drunken Predator Drone', where this sentence struck me:

Sovereignty is the inherent right to control your territory, and that right isn’t solely dictated by your capacity to do so

Link:http://gunpowderandlead.org/author/drunkenpredator/

'Drunken Predator Drone' writes in the context of Pakistan. What would happen if another 'ally' of the USA was repeatedly hit by drone strikes? Say Italy, where the US pursued a suspect AQ member and illegally rendered him.

I have long thought the use of an apparent drone only approach / tactic primarily, if not only gains time through the impact of violent, leadership decapitation. Often there appears to be no other US tactic in use.

Clint Watts again asks what are the alternatives to drones in a wider CT strategy:http://selectedwisdom.com/?p=813

Clint was writing after an extensive WaPo article, mainly on the targeting process last week:http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...10/23/4789b2ae