[extropy-chat] US Pilots fight in Iraq - from Las Vegas !!!!!!

[BillK]

Is this unbelievable or what ????

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1291243,00.html>

October 03, 2004

Pilotless strikes on Iraq by RAF

ROYAL Air Force officers have joined a team of American pilots based
in the desert near Las Vegas that is flying and firing missiles from
unmanned Predator spy planes more than 7,000 miles away in Iraq,
writes Stephen Grey.

The British airmen are part of a 24-hour operation that controls the
Predators remotely by satellite, secretly filming militants attacking
American and British troops and using Hellfire air-to-ground missiles
to destroy enemy positions.

Kurt Scheible, 41, the US commander of Predator operations at Balad,
said it was cheaper and more efficient to base most pilots far from
the combat zone. "When I'm back in Nellis I can fly a mission over
Iraq with the Predator, and then go home and take my children to a
ball game," he said.

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Un - xxxxing - believable !!!!

BillK